US wants talks with Russia on missile defense

Washington, June 22: The United States planned talks with Poland next week on a missile shield opposed by Russia as Washington said it saw signs the Kremlin may be more open to cooperating on the defense system.

The US-Polish meeting in Washington on Monday underscores US determination to move forward with the Europe-based missile defense system despite the tension it has created with Moscow, which considers it a threat.

But a senior US official said although Washington was committed to the system, which will have components in Poland and the Czech Republic, an alternative proposal by Russian President Vladimir Putin was worth pursuing.

''We find President Putin's proposal intriguing and very interesting,'' Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Fried told a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing yesterday. He said Washington had formally asked Moscow for discussions to explore details.

Putin has suggested using a radar in Azerbaijan as part of the system, but the United States made clear this could not replace plans to use interceptors in Poland and radar in the Czech Republic. Both countries are former allies of Moscow.

Washington says the shield is designed to intercept missiles from rogue states such as Iran, not to counter any Russian military threat.

The US team at Monday's talks will be led by Assistant Secretary of State John Rood, who oversees non-proliferation issues. The discussion will include the need to negotiate a formal agreement to base interceptors in Poland and how the system would integrate with NATO, a US official said.

No deadline for completing a basing agreement with Poland has been set but typically such documents could take a year or more, he added.

RUSSIAN MOVEMENT

Fried told reporters after the hearing, ''the point is (that with Putin's proposal) the Russians have now acknowledged there may be a need for some system and that Iran or that region is a source of potential problems.'' He said the focus should be on ''not just the one radar but how it could be part of systems being considered and how these things could be combined in a way that could enhance everyone's security.'' In Moscow, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Kislyak said the radar ''will not be able to monitor anything except Russian bases,'' and Russia's top general warned that Moscow could react with military force if it felt threatened.

The issue is expected to be high on the agenda of a summit next month between Putin and President George W Bush at Bush's parents' home in Kennebunkport, Me.

Fried described the meeting as a chance for the two leaders to ''step back, consider how to avoid rhetorical escalation and concentrate on a common agenda.'' He said the United States had been puzzled and concerned by recent Russian actions and statements, including opposition to missile defense and to a supervised independence plan for Kosovo, and said, ''We are in a more complicated period in our relations.'' He lamented a ''steady deterioration of democratic practices'' in Russia, but stressed the need to avoid a ''rhetorical race to the bottom.'' He said there were many areas of cooperation, including North Korea, Iran and counterrorism.

REUTERS

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