President Vladimir Putin met with NATO Secretary-General George
Robertson in the Kremlin on Tuesday to personally try to sell him on
Russia's answer to the U.S. national missile defense system Ñ a limited,
mobile missile shield to be developed jointly with NATO members in Europe.
Washington made its own proposal for jointly countering ballistic missile
threats from what it calls "states of concern." A delegation of U.S.
congressmen led by Curt Weldon, a Republican from Pennsylvania, brought a
verbal invitation to Russia to work with the United States on NMD.
Both sides promised to take a close look at the new proposals, but there
was little reason to believe that they amounted to anything more than
diplomatic maneuvering that would most likely remain on paper.
During the Kremlin meeting, Putin reiterated Russia's opposition to NATO's
eastward expansion. "We have noticed your statement that the alliance does not view
Russia as an adversary. We welcome this statement and appreciate it," he
told Robertson. "But the expansion of the defensive union to our borders
cannot be explained by anything other than a [perceived] threat from Russia."
Putin left it to his defense minister, Igor Sergeyev, however, to brief
Robertson on Russia's latest proposal for a missile defense shield for Europe.
The proposal calls for Russian and NATO experts to evaluate ballistic
missile threats before deciding whether to design and deploy missile
defense systems to cover specific areas in Europe that are most likely to
be targeted in such attacks, the Defense Ministry's international
cooperation chief Leonid Ivashov told reporters. The U.S. State Department
has cited Iraq and Libya as among its "states of concern."
"These elements will be mobile and will be deployed in the directions of
the greatest risk of missiles to cover the most important objects," Ivashov
was quoted by Interfax as saying.
Last year, the Russian military proposed the development of theater
missile defense systems that would shield both the United States and Europe
from perceived missile threats, but would provide no continent-wide
protection.
The Russians argue that both of their proposals would be cheaper than
Washington's planned $60 billion NMD system and more effective because they
would be designed to intercept missiles during their boost phase. In
addition, Russia says its proposals would not violate the 1972 U.S.-Soviet
Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty, which bans national missile defense systems.
Robertson welcomed Russia's initiative as evidence that Moscow shares some
of the West's concern about missile threats. "What is important now is that
we have a Russian proposal to deal with the same kind of perceived threat,"
he said. "We look forward to examining this proposal in detail and hearing
a presentation from Russian experts on what has been put forward."
However, Robertson insisted that Moscow should not entertain any illusions
that it will split the U.S.-led alliance over Washington's plan to deploy
NMD to shield U.S. territory from a limited ballistic missile attack. "I
made it clear that the NATO allies accept that the United States has made
its decision to have an effective missile defense."
While Robertson was at the Kremlin, the delegation of U.S. congressmen met
with State Duma members to discuss national missile defense. Weldon said
the delegation brought a verbal message from U.S. defense officials asking
Russia to work with the United States on missile defense.
Lyubov Sliska, first deputy speaker of the Duma, said Russia would
consider the U.S. proposal, Interfax reported.
Weldon visited Moscow last June to review Russia's proposal to develop a
Russian-designed theater missile defense system, dubbed S-500. During that
trip Weldon, who then served as chairman of the Military Research and
Development Subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee, was briefed
on S-500 by former Deputy Defense Minister Nikolai Mikhailov.
Upon his return to Washington, Weldon testified before his subcommittee
that Mikhailov had told him that the Russians had already done all of the
mathematical calculations and preparations for S-500.
Weldon said he also asked Mikhailov about the existing S-300 air defense
system and the S-400, which is in the test phase. The congressman said the
S-400 is a "fantastically capable system" and if the S-500 is even better
then it would violate U.S.-Russian protocols on theater missile defense systems.
"When they said they couldn't afford to build the system, I challenged
them to let us help them with that system, to work together, to do a joint
program," Weldon testified in June.
A senior Defense Ministry general said in a telephone interview that
Russia will not accept the U.S. invitation to fund co-development of NMD by
Russian defense companies. Washington is "offering us cheese in a mouse
trap," said the general, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "They are
inviting us to participate in what we have always opposed and what violates the ABM treaty."
Alexei Arbatov, the deputy head of the Duma defense committee, said that
the Russian system would be simpler and would deal with more contained
threats than the U.S. missile shield.
"The Russian proposal deals with threats posed by short- and mid-range
missiles, while the American system is intended to fend off
intercontinental missiles," Arbatov said on ORT.
Ivan Safranchuk, strategic security analyst at the Moscow-based Center for
Policy Studies, said neither Moscow's nor Washington's proposals will be accepted.
Russia will not participate in development of NMD because it wants to keep
the ABM treaty intact, Safranchuk said. And Robertson's statement that the
Europeans will not be split shows that Russia will have no success in
getting some NATO members to join with it in opposing NMD.
"These proposals are just diplomatic maneuvering that precede hard
bargaining," he said. The bargaining will likely begin later this year when
President George W. Bush's administration announces what type of missile
defense shield it wants to deploy.
Bush has already vowed to pursue what Russia describes as the "Son of Star
Wars," but has yet to announce exactly how many interceptors and early
warning radars will be deployed.
Washington will most definitely deploy NMD if it becomes technically
feasible, and Moscow will either have to agree to modification of the ABM
treaty in exchange for some concessions or see the United States abrogate this accord.
Russia has already threatened to walk out of the START I and START II
strategic arms reduction treaties and deploy multiple warheads on its newest ballistic
missiles if Washington violates the ABM treaty.
Putin thanked Robertson for his efforts to get NATO-Russian relations back
on track after the alliance's bombing campaign in Yugoslavia, which Moscow
answered by suspending most ties with the alliance.
Late Tuesday, Robertson attended the reopening of NATO's information
office in Moscow. He also invited Putin to visit NATO headquarters in Brussels.
Sergei Ivanov, the secretary of Putin's Security Council, said that Russia
itself may bid for NATO membership someday Ñ a statement Putin made last year.
MOSCOW, Feb 21, 2001 -- (Agence France Presse) NATO chief George Robertson
promised Wednesday that Europe would give serious thought to a Russian
counter-proposal for an anti-missile defense shield being planned by the United States.
Completing a bridge-building mission, Robertson said he sensed a pivotal
change in the Russian view on potential threats of attack from so-called
rogue states, some of which are being courted by Moscow.
However even Russian officials admitted they gave only a vague outline of
their missile defense plan, while stressing that their proposals -- unlike
Washington's national missile defense (NMD) -- abided by all existing nuclear defense agreement.
"The 19 countries of the alliance will give serious consideration to the
proposals made yesterday on ballistic missile defense by the Russian
government," Robertson told an audience at Moscow's MGIMO foreign relations institute.
"It represents, in many ways, a change in the Russian position because it
suggests that there are threats ... that come from an area close up to
Europe and Russia," the NATO secretary-general said before departing Moscow for Prague.
Washington concedes that its NMD shield would breach the cornerstone 1972
ABM agreement but argues the threat from nations like North Korea and Iraq
demand a re-think of global security.
"The threats are (also) to the USA at the moment, and (now) there is a
proposed military solution by the Russians to deal with these threats, to
neutralize these threats," Robertson noted.
However Robertson, who re-opened a Moscow NATO center that was shut in a
Russian reprisal for allied bombing of Serbia during the 1999 Kosovo war,
ruefully pointed out that Russia remained vehemently opposed to the
Alliance's potential eastward expansion.
"We take the Russian view seriously. But it is difficult to understand the
nature of the Russian concerns. I do try, but I still don't understand.
The alliance is no longer considered an adversary of Russia," he said.
Moscow remains deeply distrustful of both NATO expansion and the NMD, which defense officials here fear could
render Russia's shrinking nuclear stockpile useless within 10-15 years.
In what Robertson conceded could be a "wedge-driving exercise," Russia on Tuesday handed th NATO chief a
sketch of its own version of a European defense mechanism.
It includes a joint appraisal of potential threats and use of mobile Russian S-300 rockets to intercept
incoming missiles -- a system that would never cover all of Europe at all times.
"Through the example of our proposals, we wanted to show that it is possible to reach a resolution which can
confront threats but which would not violate the 1972 ABM treaty," said Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov.
Ivanov said Washington has showed a "constructive approach" to the Moscow proposal.
Meanwhile Defense Minister Igor Sergeyev stressed that Russia has put long thought into its own defense system
-- underlining Moscow's view that the U.S. NMD was technologically unfeasible.
"We have the military and scientific technology," said Sergeyev. "I think that if we consolidate our position
with the Europeans, then I think we will be able to fulfill everything that we have proposed."
He promised that Russian defense experts would shortly visit Brussels "to clarify (the Russian proposal), so
that the whole world understood that our position is open and trustworthy."