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Differences remain between Russia and US http://www.russiajournal.com/news/rj_news.shtml?nd=1521 MOSCOW - The United States no longer views Russia as an enemy, but the two nations still differ on U.S. missile defense plans and NATO's expansion, Russia's defense minister said in an interview released Monday. "I wouldn't say that Russia and the United States are the closest allies in the military sense," Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov told the Interfax news agency. "Certainly not." Russia's relations with the United States and other Western countries have dramatically improved thanks to President Vladimir Putin's support for the U.S.-led war on terror. Ivanov said the United States had stopped considering Russia as enemy "not just in words, but in deeds." "I don't think that the United States would have agreed to radical cuts of strategic armaments if it had suspected us of being an enemy or becoming such in the future," Ivanov said. U.S. President George W. Bush said last month that the United States would reduce its nuclear forces to 1,700-2,200 warheads, and Putin promised to cut Russia's arsenals to as low as 1,500 warheads. Each nation is now allowed to have 6,000 nuclear warheads under the START I Treaty. While pledges of nuclear cutbacks reflect the improved bilateral ties, Russia still considers the U.S. decision to withdraw from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty a "serious mistake with very grave negative consequences," Ivanov said, adding that "each of us keeps to his opinion on the issue." Speaking Monday in a live question-and-answer session on national television, Putin reaffirmed that the U.S. withdrawal from the ABM treaty was a mistake but not a threat to Russia and voiced confidence it wouldn't spoil relations. Ivanov referred to Russia's concerns about NATO's eastward expansion as another divisive issue. "If the military infrastructure of some organization comes close to our borders, we will have to take that into account in our military planning," he said. "Any other approach would be irresponsible." Putin has urged NATO to give Russia a say in its decision-making, saying that would ease Russia's concern about the alliance's eastward expansion. NATO and Russia are to work out a new cooperation framework early next year. Describing the state of Russian armed forces, Ivanov said that the strategic nuclear forces were in good shape, but the military's conventional weapons were becoming increasingly obsolete. "The strategic nuclear forces' weapons are reliable and can serve for many years," he said. As for tanks, armored personnel carriers and aircraft, they "need to be modernized or simply replaced." Ivanov said the government plans to have Russian arms exporters earmark some of their hard currency earnings to help modernize the Russian military's arsenals. "Otherwise, it is an ironic situation: We sell state-of-the-art weapons abroad, while the Russian army doesn't get anything," he said. http://www.russiajournal.com/news/rj_news.shtml?nd=1521 ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: archive@jab.org EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9WB2D Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
