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MOSCOW ON WASHINGTON'S STATEMENTS ABOUT TEMPORARY PRESENCE OF US MILITARY UNITS IN CENTRAL ASIA

MOSCOW, January 24. /RIA Novosti correspondent/. Moscow has "no reasons to doubt repeated statements by American representatives, including high-ranking ones, that presence of US units in Central Asia will be temporary and transparent", said Alexander Yakovenko, an official Foreign Ministry spokesman, commenting on remarks by US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage.

The other day, Armitage, in an interview with a group of European journalists, said that the US does not seek a long military presence in that region and openly discusses this question with the Russian side. According to Yakovenko, these remarks "follow the spirit of the understanding existing between the Russian and US leaderships". Moscow firmly believes that Russia and the US are no longer opponents. "What is more, we are now jointly deciding a common problem - how to put an end to the threat of terrorism and extremism, stemming from the territory of Afghanistan," the official spokesman emphasised. It is in this context, according to him, that Moscow views the temporary American military presence in the Central Asian region.

"Naturally, these problems are the subject of dialogue at various levels, " Yakovenko concluded.

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