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Russia Gives Green Light to US Missile Defense Tests
Russia gave the United States the go-ahead for testing its missile defense system (MDS) on Thursday, saying testing alone would not violate the 1972 anti- ballistic missile (ABM) treaty as long as the United States notifies Russia beforehand, the Washington Times reports Friday.
Even one of the more provocative measures suggested by the Bush administration, a permanent base in Alaska to test rockets and other devices needed to build a missile shield, could be within ABM treaty limits, said Yuri Baluyevsky, Russian deputy chief of the General Staff.
"Automatically, it would not mean violation of the treaty," Baluyevsky told reporters at the Russian Embassy, when asked about the Alaska proposal, adding, "Under the treaty, testing can be carried out, but only with notification."
The remarks of Baluyevsky, who headed a 10-member Russian delegation to security talks with Pantagon officials this week, indicates Russia is continuing to ease its objections to U.S. efforts to develop a system capable of hitting incoming nuclear warheads.
This week's talks were to provide details of the U.S. program to the Russians in advance of Defense Secretary Dolald H. Rumsfeld 's talks in Moscow next week with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov.
Russia had been bitterly opposed to U.S. plans to develop a missile shield. But it opened the door to a possible shift when U. S. President George W. Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed last month in Genoa, Italy, to link U.S. missile defense with large cuts that Russia wants in both nations' nuclear arsenals.
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