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US Security Official Ends Strategic Stability Talks in Russia
US Undersecretary of State John Bolton wound up his week-long visit to Moscow on Saturday after several rounds of talks with Russian security and diplomatic officials on strategic stability issues, but the talks turned out few results.
Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov received Bolton on the eve of his departure for Washington. They discussed preparations for a meeting of the two countries' foreign ministers, scheduled for September 19 in the US capital.
Ivanov expressed the hope that Moscow and Washington "will reach a mutual understanding" in the sphere of strategic offensive and defensive weapons which, as Russian and US presidents Vladimir Putin and George W. Bush agreed, "should be examined in their inseparable interconnection."
Earlier this week, Bolton discussed the issues of Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) and anti-ballistic missile (ABM) issues with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Georgy Mamedov.
He also met Deputy Secretary of the Russian Security Council Oleg Chernov, head of the Russian Aerospace Agency Yuri Koptev and other Russian politicians and experts.
At these meetings, Russia reiterated its priorities: further cuts in strategic arsenals with preservation of the 1972 ABM treaty in its present form.
The American side set out its vision of possible "new framework " of relations in the strategic sphere, providing for creating a NMD system in the US territory and relevant possible measures with respect to the treaty.
The two sides expressed mutual interest in continuing such consultations "so as to clarify and to bring possibly closer positions," a Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman said.
The meeting between Ivanov and US State Secretary Colin Powell will be the next round of the dialogue, during which the sides will "discuss strategic stability in detail," he said.
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