President Vladimir Putin met with NATO Secretary-General George
Robertson in the Kremlin on Tuesday to personally try to sell
him on Russia's answer to the U.S. national missile defense
system — a limited, mobile missile shield to be developed jointly
with NATO members in Europe.
Washington made its own proposal for jointly countering ballistic
missile threats from what it calls "states of concern."
A delegation of U.S. congressmen led by Curt Weldon, a Republican
from Pennsylvania, brought a verbal invitation to Russia to
work with the United States on NMD.
Both sides promised to take a close look at the new proposals,
but there was little reason to believe that they amounted to
anything more than diplomatic maneuvering that would most likely
remain on paper.
During the Kremlin meeting, Putin reiterated Russia's opposition
to NATO's eastward expansion. "We have noticed your statement
that the alliance does not view Russia as an adversary. We welcome
this statement and appreciate it," he told Robertson. "But
the expansion of the defensive union to our borders cannot be
explained by anything other than a [perceived] threat from Russia."
Putin left it to his defense minister, Igor Sergeyev, however,
to brief Robertson on Russia's latest proposal for a missile
defense shield for Europe.
The proposal calls for Russian and NATO experts to evaluate
ballistic missile threats before deciding whether to design
and deploy missile defense systems to cover specific areas in
Europe that are most likely to be targeted in such attacks,
the Defense Ministry's international cooperation chief Leonid
Ivashov told reporters. The U.S. State Department has cited
Iraq and Libya as among its "states of concern."
"These elements will be mobile and will be deployed in
the directions of the greatest risk of missiles to cover the
most important objects," Ivashov was quoted by Interfax
as saying.
Last year, the Russian military proposed the development of
theater missile defense systems that would shield both the United
States and Europe from perceived missile threats, but would
provide no continent-wide protection.
The Russians argue that both of their proposals would be cheaper
than Washington's planned $60 billion NMD system and more effective
because they would be designed to intercept missiles during
their boost phase. In addition, Russia says its proposals would
not violate the 1972 U.S.-Soviet Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty,
which bans national missile defense systems.
Robertson welcomed Russia's initiative as evidence that Moscow
shares some of the West's concern about missile threats. "What
is important now is that we have a Russian proposal to deal
with the same kind of perceived threat," he said. "We
look forward to examining this proposal in detail and hearing
a presentation from Russian experts on what has been put forward."
However, Robertson insisted that Moscow should not entertain
any illusions that it will split the U.S.-led alliance over
Washington's plan to deploy NMD to shield U.S. territory from
a limited ballistic missile attack. "I made it clear that
the NATO allies accept that the United States has made its decision
to have an effective missile defense."
While Robertson was at the Kremlin, the delegation of U.S.
congressmen met with State Duma members to discuss national
missile defense. Weldon said the delegation brought a verbal
message from U.S. defense officials asking Russia to work with
the United States on missile defense.
Lyubov Sliska, first deputy speaker of the Duma, said Russia
would consider the U.S. proposal, Interfax reported.
Weldon visited Moscow last June to review Russia's proposal
to develop a Russian-designed theater missile defense system,
dubbed S-500. During that trip Weldon, who then served as chairman
of the Military Research and Development Subcommittee of the
House Armed Services Committee, was briefed on S-500 by former
Deputy Defense Minister Nikolai Mikhailov.
Upon his return to Washington, Weldon testified before his
subcommittee that Mikhailov had told him that the Russians had
already done all of the mathematical calculations and preparations
for S-500.
Weldon said he also asked Mikhailov about the existing S-300
air defense system and the S-400, which is in the test phase.
The congressman said the S-400 is a "fantastically capable
system" and if the S-500 is even better then it would violate
U.S.-Russian protocols on theater missile defense systems.
"When they said they couldn't afford to build the system,
I challenged them to let us help them with that system, to work
together, to do a joint program," Weldon testified in June.
A senior Defense Ministry general said in a telephone interview
that Russia will not accept the U.S. invitation to fund co-development
of NMD by Russian defense companies. Washington is "offering
us cheese in a mouse trap," said the general, who spoke
on condition of anonymity. "They are inviting us to participate
in what we have always opposed and what violates the ABM treaty."
Alexei Arbatov, the
deputy head of the Duma defense committee [the Yabloko faction],
said that the Russian system would be simpler and would deal
with more contained threats than the U.S. missile shield.
"The Russian proposal deals with threats posed by short-
and mid-range missiles, while the American system is intended
to fend off intercontinental missiles," Arbatov said on
ORT.
Ivan Safranchuk, strategic security analyst at the Moscow-based
Center for Policy Studies, said neither Moscow's nor Washington's
proposals will be accepted.
Russia will not participate in development of NMD because it
wants to keep the ABM treaty intact, Safranchuk said. And Robertson's
statement that the Europeans will not be split shows that Russia
will have no success in getting some NATO members to join with
it in opposing NMD.
"These proposals are just diplomatic maneuvering that
precede hard bargaining," he said. The bargaining will
likely begin later this year when President George W. Bush's
administration announces what type of missile defense shield
it wants to deploy.
Bush has already vowed to pursue what Russia describes as the
"Son of Star Wars," but has yet to announce exactly
how many interceptors and early warning radars will be deployed.
Washington will most definitely deploy NMD if it becomes technically
feasible, and Moscow will either have to agree to modification
of the ABM treaty in exchange for some concessions or see the
United States abrogate this accord.
Russia has already threatened to walk out of the START I and
START II strategic arms reduction treaties and deploy multiple
warheads on its newest ballistic missiles if Washington violates
the ABM treaty.
Putin thanked Robertson for his efforts to get NATO-Russian
relations back on track after the alliance's bombing campaign
in Yugoslavia, which Moscow answered by suspending most ties
with the alliance.
Late Tuesday, Robertson attended the reopening of NATO's information
office in Moscow. He also invited Putin to visit NATO headquarters
in Brussels.
Sergei Ivanov, the secretary of Putin's Security Council, said
that Russia itself may bid for NATO membership someday — a statement
Putin made last year.
