Russia says has not "slammed the door" on arms pact

MOSCOW, July 20 (Reuters) Russia has not ''slammed the door'' on the Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) treaty, even though it has pulled out of the pact, Russian media quoted the country's foreign minister as saying today.

On Saturday, Russian President Vladimir Putin gave notice Russia would suspend compliance with the treaty, a landmark post-Cold War pact limiting conventional military strength on either side of the old Iron Curtain.

''(Russia) has not slammed the door on its colleagues in the matter of discussing a Conventional Forces in Europe treaty,'' Itar-Tass quoted Sergei Lavrov as saying in Berlin where he met his German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

''We stand for preserving and strengthening the system of arms control. There are chances that we will be able to reach mutually acceptable agreements,'' Lavrov said.

Earlier today, a Russian foreign ministry department head told Interfax Russia wanted to start negotiating a revised CFE treaty in the autumn, adding a timeframe to a previous offer.

NATO has said it was very concerned about Russia's pullout and suggested convening a special conference to discuss the treaty. The Russians dismissed this on Wednesday, proposing a fresh version of the treaty instead.

''We hope that in the autumn we can begin substantive negotiations with our partners in the CFE, with the United States and NATO on the modernisation of the treaty,'' Anton Mazur, head of the Russian foreign ministry's department for conventional arms control, told Interfax.

GERMAN INVITATION In talks with Lavrov in Berlin, Steinmeier expressed concern about Moscow's move and invited senior Russian officials to Berlin for a meeting on the CFE dispute in October, a Berlin Foreign Ministry spokesman said.

''The limits on conventional arms in Europe achieved with the CFE must be preserved,'' spokesman Martin Jaeger added.

Signed in 1990 and updated in 1999, the treaty limits the number of tanks, artillery, aircraft and helicopters stationed between the Atlantic and the Ural mountains in Russia, as well as in eastern and central Europe.

Russia said the treaty was not effective because NATO countries have failed to ratify the latest version of the treaty.

NATO members have declined to ratify it until Russia withdraws all its troops from ex-Soviet Moldova and Georgia, as it pledged to do in 1999 when the pact was signed.

Russia has said its decision to suspend compliance was also linked, in part, to a US plan to station elements of a missile defence shield in eastern Europe.

Moscow says the shield is a threat to its security. It has proposed an alternative, collective defence scheme that it says would involve it sharing data and infrastructure with the United States and other NATO states.

Lavrov said in Berlin he hoped to discuss these proposals next week at a meeting of the NATO-Russia Council.

''Moscow hopes to present in detail those ideas which will help to create a security system that meets the interests of Russia, Europe and the United States,'' Itar-Tass news agency quoted him as saying.

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