America acknowledges the acuteness of the creation of non-strategic Russian-European anti-ballistic missile defence (ABM) system involving the US, said the leader of the Yabloko party and its parliamentary faction Grigory Yavlinsky in an interview with the Interfax agency on Thursday.

After meeting with Condoleezza Rice, Assistant to the US President on National Security, Yavlinsky answered the questions of our Interfax correspondent. During the meeting which was held at her initiative, Rice introduced the new Ambassador of the United States in Russia Alexander Verschbow to the Yabloko leader.

According to Yavlinsky, the representatives of the US administration think it is more reasonable to speak about the creation of a joint “Russian-NATO ABM” rather than aš Russian-European ABM.

Yavlinsky also said that at the beginning of this year President Putin had forwarded to the Secretary-General of NATO, George Robertson, Russia’s proposals on the formation of an European anti-missile defence system. However this idea had been proposed as early as 1998 by Yavlinsky.

Yavlinsky also noted that during the meeting with Rice he had proposed considering the issue of concluding a broad-scale co-operation agreement on key issues between RF and the USA in the near future.

According to Yavlinsky, this idea caught the American side by surprise, but was met with interest.

The Yabloko leader also said that the agenda of the meeting included the issue of negotiations between the RF, the US, UK, France and China on the problems of strategic ABM. Yavlinsky also noted, that during the meeting he had again repeated his proposal on convening an international conference “to make agreed changes to the ABM treaty of 1972.”

“The topic of Russia’s priorities” was a separate issue at the discussion, added Yabloko’s leader. He also explained that in his view, Russia would be extremely interested in receiving a firm statement from US leadership that “it would like to see Russia as a stable democratic state, as a European country with high living standards, a country within its present borders.”

“In my opinion it would be extremely important for Russia if the United States expressed such a priority: and this, which is also extremely important, would create the basis for our co-operation in the North-East of Asia,” stressed Yavlinsky.

He noted that at the meeting they had also discussed freedom of speech, “the war in Chechnya” and the development of democracy in Russia.

See also:

Russia’s ABM initiatives