ANTI-MISSILE FALSE START
Russia does not want to renegotiate the ABM Treaty. At least, that is what the generals maintain
On August 17-19, Moscow hosted the first Russian-American meeting on the modernization of the ABM Treaty. It was a distinctive “intelligence fight” after the announcement by Russian President Boris Yeltsin that Russia is ready to modernize the Treaty.
The Russian interagency delegation to the meeting was headed by the Director of the Security and Disamarment Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Grigory Berdennikov. The American delegation was led by the Assistant Secretary of State on International Security and Arms Control, John Holms. Ukraine did not participate in the negotiations since they were not held within the framework of the Geneva joint advisory group for the ABM but rather on the basis of preliminary Russian-American arrangements.
The Americans attempted to persuade Russia to amend the ABM Treaty in order to legalize the US’sA plans to create a national antimissile defense system. The USA stressed that their “missiles shield “ would not be directed against Russia but against “unfriendly regimes” such as Iraq, Iran and North Korea. In response, the experts believe that Russia most likely wants the USA to unilaterally destroy part of its nuclear arsenal.
Russia has regarded the first negotiations that took place in Moscow as ineffectual. According to the Head of the International Military Cooperation Department, Ministry of Defense of Russia, Leonid Ivashov, the approach to expand of regional system ABM is obviously “the soul of the American policy. A decision was taken, financial arrangements made, lobbying conducted for research contracts. These actions all violate the arrangements under the ABM Treaty of 1972. The facts are then put before Russia: all right, let’s agree on that,” declared the general.
Russia’s position contends that the ABM Treaty of 1972 is a basis for all processes in the field of strategic nuclear forces. Therefore, any changes to the Treaty will destroy all means of nuclear restraint. Russia underlined that during the talks, the military part of the Russian delegation sharply criticized the US’s plans for Treaty. In addition, Washington’s plan to develop a national anti-missile defense system directly contradicts the 1972 Treaty, which forbids the expansion of such systems.
Moreover, Moscow is dissatisfied that on August 12, the government of Japan gave “the green light” to the US on a joint technical research project to create of a regional antimissile defense system “military theatre”. The purpose of the project is to cover the US and their allies with “shields” from adversaries’ ballistic missiles, through the use of satellites and anti-missile systems. During his visit to Japan at the end of July, the US Secretary of Defense, William Cohen, accented that the system is “purely defensive - both for the US and Japan”. However the idea of creating the defense system is the cause of protests from Russia, China, and North Korea.