MOSCOW. March 18 (Interfax) - Russia and the U.S. have not become allies for the past twenty years and therefore need to sign a new treaty on offensive and defensive strategic weapons, Yabloko leader Grigory Yavlinsky said at a meeting with U.S. State Secretary Condoleezza Rice and Pentagon chief Robert Gates, Yabloko reported.

"Grigory Yavlinsky has said that both countries have maintained the facilities and the nuclear potential that have similar goals in the framework of the guaranteed mutual destruction doctrine," Yabloko said in a release issued after the meeting on Tuesday.

"There are still many people in Russia who see the U.S. as a source of danger," said Yavlinsky.

"This indicates a lack of effectiveness of Russian-U.S. relations, which have been built on the basis of half-partnership-half-confrontation since the 1990s," says the statement.

The START I treaty expires in 2009 and the U.S. has withdrawn from the 1972 ABM Treaty, Yavlinsky said. "Thus, there will be no agreements regulating Russian-U.S. relations in the sphere of strategic weapons in the near future," he said.

Yavlinsky said he believes that "the real and practical view of Russian-U.S. relations today consists in realizing the need for a comprehensive Russian-U.S. treaty on offensive and defensive strategic weapons."

"It will be a step towards the realization by the new administration of Russia and the U.S. of the need for a strategic union between the two countries in the future," Yavlinsky said.