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Top MP says Russia should drop Cold War treaties
Interfax

Moscow, 15 January: Head of the Duma International Affairs Committee Dmitriy Rogozin believes Russia should not take the road of confrontation with the United States because of the American decision to withdraw from the ABM Treaty.

"Russia's response should not be confrontational, but should give Russia a free hand in choosing the forces and means of attaining greater security for itself and its partners," he told the press on Tuesday [15 January].

In Rogozin's opinion, Moscow should pay greater attention to the reasoning of President George W. Bush, who has described the ABM Treaty as a vestige of the Cold War, and to the need to guarantee the security of Russian citizens.

"We should be acting from similar positions," Rogozin said. Russia should "analyse the treaties that today belong to the category of Cold War relics, and also guarantee full freedom of action with the purpose of repelling possible threats", he said.

He said he believes it important to get rid of excessive commitments related for instance "to flank restrictions imposed by the CFE [Conventional Forces in Europe] Treaty". "It is more important for us now to concentrate military potential in the southern, not western direction," Rogozin said.

He also spoke "for revising, if not denouncing, individual provisions of START-1 that for instance ties our hands on heavy bombers".