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[Third Issue of the Day]
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Russia, US to hold first arms talks since ABM
withdrawal
Interfax
Moscow, 10 January: Russian-American consultations on strategic offensive arms reduction will be held in Washington on 15-16 January, a spokesperson for the US embassy in Moscow told Interfax news agency today.
The spokesperson said the American delegation to the consultations will be headed by Under Secretary for Policy Douglas Feith.
These will be the first Russian-American consultations on strategic issues since Washington announced its withdrawal from the ABM Treaty.
The Russian side said that it did not intend to present itself as the aggrieved party over this but would continue talks with the USA on strategic issues "but in a different format".
Moscow has expressed the hope that by US President George Bush's visit to Russia, planned for mid-2002, the sides would have reached an understanding on radical strategic offensive weapons cuts.
The Russian side also announced its desire to reach "some other accords which could replace the ABM Treaty".
The upcoming Washington consultations will give a boost to the talks process at various levels which is to draw up a document both incorporating the parameters of future strategic offensive weapons cuts and detailing the control and transparency of this process.
Interfax sources recall that Moscow has proposed that Russia and the USA cut their existing nuclear warheads to as little as 1,500 on each side.
The American sides also set out its stance, saying it was prepared to reduce strategic offensive weapons to 1,700-2,200 nuclear warheads. "This would bring us, if not to identical positions, to similar ones," the agency was told. The hope was also expressed that once specific agreements on strategic offensive weapons were ready for signing this gap would be eliminated.
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