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Russia Seeks New Arms Pact With U.S.
January 12, 2002

MOSCOW (AP) - Russia expects a formal accord with the United States on deep nuclear weapons cuts to be reached by May or June, a Russian general leading talks with U.S. officials next week said Saturday.

``The central issue of the Washington consultations will be the development of a new agreement between Russia and the U.S. on the reduction of strategic offensive arms,'' Col. Gen. Yuri Baluyevsky told reporters in Moscow, according to Russian news agencies.

The agreement should be ready by the time President Bush visits Russia in late May or early June, said Baluyevsky.

``It should be a legally binding document what will clearly outline the mechanism of controlling the process of reduction,'' he said.

Bush pledged in November to cut the U.S. arsenal to 1,700-2,200 warheads, and Russian President Vladimir Putin responded by saying Russia would reduce its stockpile to 1,500 warheads. Each country is now allowed 6,000 nuclear warheads under the 1991 START I treaty.

Putin has pushed for a formal treaty on the new cuts, but Bush has balked.

In a reconciliation gesture, a senior U.S. official said Thursday that the Bush administration would be willing to codify cutbacks with a statement or even a treaty, provided there would be no tortuous Cold War-style negotiations.

Baluyevsky heads a delegation going to Washington to work out details of the cuts Monday and Tuesday, and the talks are expected to be tough. Russia has bristled at the Pentagon's plan to downsize American nuclear arsenals by putting weapons in reserve rather than destroying them.

Baluyevsky said the U.S. decision to withdraw from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty would also be discussed.

After years of Russian efforts to prevent such a move, Bush announced in December that the United States is withdrawing from the treaty within six months so that it can build a national missile defense.

Putin called the decision a mistake but said it would not threaten Russia's security. Baluyevsky said that Russia would present a formal reaction to the U.S. withdrawal within six months.