U.S. and Russian diplomats yesterday completed their third round of negotiations on replacing the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, June 24).
The latest set of talks "has ended," a Russian diplomat confirmed.
The meetings were the last talks on the treaty planned before Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and U.S. President Barack Obama meet in Moscow early next month. Officials hoped to have the broad outline of a START successor pact ready for the leaders to review at the summit, which is expected to take place from July 6 to 8 (Agence France-Presse I/Spacewar.com, June 24).
Russia reaffirmed its intent to hold off on significant nuclear arsenal reductions if the United States pursues a Bush administration plan to field missile defenses in Poland and the Czech Republic, Interfax reported yesterday. The Obama administration has not yet declared whether it intends to deploy the missile shield.
The Obama administration is carefully assessing the situation, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said: "We welcome this approach. It is more productive."
"We are ready to analyze any missile threats together, not just with the U.S. but definitely with Europe as well because we are speaking of moves that are planned to be taken in Europe," Lavrov added (Interfax, June 24).
"No doors have been closed yet," Russian President Dmitry Medvedev added today, according to AFP. "We are continuing discussions with our American partners on these issues including on the linking of missile defense shield questions and the reduction of strategic offensive weapons," he said (Agence France-Presse II/Spacewar.com, June 25).
Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Michael Mullen is expected to discuss missile defense matters with Gen. Nikolai Markarov, his Russian counterpart, at a meeting this week in Moscow, AFP reported yesterday.
"We expect missile defense issues to come up," said Mullen spokesman Capt. John Kirby.
"There is a hope and an anticipation that these discussions this week will help lay the foundation from a military perspective for a productive summit for the president when he goes" to Moscow next month, Kirby added.
The sides previously discussed incorporating two Russian missile-tracking radars into the proposed European shield. The Defense Department yesterday said it would not consider substituting the Russian sites for other proposed elements of the system.
"I don't think this is viewed as an alternative. This is, rather, viewed as a complement to a third site in Europe," said Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell.
The Obama administration "remains optimistic that some sort of agreement can be worked out with the Russians on building a collective system that protects each other and our peoples and our allies in Europe," Morrell said (Agence France-Presse III/Google News, June 24).