Russia Reaffirms Adherence to ABM TreatyRussia reaffirmed its adherence to the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) treaty during the Russian-U.S. talks on global strategic stability held here Tuesday and Wednesday, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a communique released Wednesday."Russia laid the main emphasis on further cuts in strategic offensive weapons on the condition that the ABM treaty is preserved in its current form," the communique said. No specific decisions or proposals were made on the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) or ABM issues at the talks between Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Georgy Mamedov and U.S. Under Secretary of State John Bolton, the ministry said. The U.S. side, as expected, limited itself to the general description of its approaches to strategic stability issues, without anything specific, the ministry said, adding that the U.S. side repeated the gist of the information that had already been given to Russian representatives. Commenting on Bolton's statement that during the Moscow consultations the U.S. delegation gave Russian experts a lot of information, the ministry said: "There was a lot of information, but it was very general and was already known to Russia." Consultations will continue during the Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov's upcoming visit to the U.S., said the ministry. Ivanov is reportedly to meet Bolton on Friday. Bolton, who originally planned to leave Moscow for Brussels on Wednesday evening, has decided to extend his stay in Moscow for at least two days and have several additional meetings with Russian officials, the ministry said. |
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