Contradictions persist at talks on new START treaty-PM.

WASHINGTON, February 24 (Itar-Tass) - There still remain
contradictions at the current talks between Russia and the United States
on a new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, Konstantin Kosachyov, Chairman
of the Committee on International Affairs of the State Duma lower house of
the Russian parliament, said here on Tuesday. He is currently in
Washington on a working visit.
The Russian parliamentarian explained that the differences that
persist at the talks concern the linkage of two themes: strategic
offensive arms and anti-missile defense. "The Americans take a more
optimistic view of the situation. They believe that those are slight
differences that are easy to settle," Kosachyov specified. Meanwhile, he
went on to say, the Russian side "pessimistically" estimates the obtaining
situation and considers that the US must show "more flexibility".
At the same time, Kosachyov is convinced, the remaining problems can
be settled provided there is a "political will" so as to wrap up the work
on a new treaty within two to three weeks.
Kosachyov said the Russian side reminds the US that the Treaty on
Limitation and Reductions of Strategic Offensive Arms (START-1), which had
expired on December 5, last year, and a replacement for which is being
currently prepared by Washington and Moscow, had been drawn up under
conditions of the existence of the 1972 ABM Treaty. A decision to withdraw
from it unilaterally had been made by the US in 2001. In view of that,
Russia wants a new START treaty "to reaffirm in legal terminology the
interconnection" between strategic offensive potentials and anti-missile
systems, Kosachyov said.
"This is a fundamentally new legal situation. At the present
moment.... No legal basis exists in principle to regulate this sphere, so
to say, of military opposition," the parliamentarian emphasized, implying
the ABM. He said the Russians' idea "from the very outset was to describe
this subject in detail as far as possible in a new START treaty".
"Judging by the negotiating process, this is extremely difficult to
do. The Americans keep arguing that with such a detailed description it
will be difficult to ratify this document in the Senate," Kosachyov said.
Therefore, he admitted, "it is obvious that this subject will not be set
forth in this treaty in such a detail that we would like it to be".
In response to a request from an Itar-Tass correspondent to specify
what concretely Russia will seek to get from the US in such a situation,
the lawmaker said, "Our wish will remain the same: we want this subject to
be set out in legal terms, be it a treaty, or some supplement to the
START, or some other form. But it must be made legally binding to both
sides".
"Ideally", such a legal instrument, in Moscow's view, must "regulate
the problem in its aggregate -- (to cover) both strategic and tactical
anti-missile defense", the specialist explained. From his point of view,
"the development of ABM systems that would be not limited by anything
would, sooner or later, "ruin the disarmament process".
Kosachyov's forecast is that the process of ratification of a new
START treaty by the Americans will be evolving with difficulty. However,
the document will also encounter difficulties in the State Duma if its
final text would not be "balanced" from the Russian lawmakers' point of
view, the Duma committee chairman cautioned.
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