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In Moscow, Rice signals warmer US-Russia ties
High-level talks on contentious issues such as missile defense had a markedly different tone from past rhetoric.
By Fred Weir | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitorfrom the March 19, 2008 edition
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Moscow - A grand strategic bargain between Russia and the US could be in the wind, after years of deteriorating relations that some commentators have dubbed "a new cold war."
After two days of talks with Russian leaders, including President Vladimir Putin and President-elect Dmitri Medvedev, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told journalists it was looking likely that Mr. Putin and President Bush will "realize their strategic vision" when they meet on the sidelines of a NATO summit two weeks from now in Bucharest, Romania.
"We have agreed that there should be a joint strategic framework document for the presidents to be able to record all of the elements of the US-Russia relationship as we go forward into the future," Ms. Rice said.
The idea of a wide "strategic framework" between the two outgoing leaders was suggested by Mr. Bush in a letter to Putin early this week that talked about the presidents' legacies.
"It is a serious document, and we analyzed it carefully," Putin said Monday.
Rice suggested that cooperation against nuclear terrorism and efforts to provide peaceful atomic energy to all nations could be part of the package. But without progress on some of the key issues that still divide Russia and the US, such a deal might be distinctly hollow.
First among these is the US determination to station 10 antimissile interceptors in Poland, with an associated radar system in the Czech Republic, which Moscow regards as a direct threat to its own strategic nuclear deterrent.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Tuesday that no agreement had been reached during the two-day visit, but "the US has heard our concerns ... and we have been offered quite important and useful proposals which we will consider."
Agreeing to disagree – for now
The US argues that the antimissile plans are of limited nature and intended only to counter some future nuclear missile threat from a rogue state, such as Iran or North Korea.
"This is not the son of strategic defense initiatives of the '80s, but rather aimed at a completely different threat where you are talking about small threats – small numbers of troublesome states ... some of which are on the periphery of Russia," Rice told journalists in Moscow.
Addressing Russia's objections to the missile defense plan would nevertheless require sweeping compromises from Washington, experts say.
"It's not that we think that these proposed 10 interceptors would be a threat, but it's the foot in the door aspect of it that deeply worries us," says Yevgeny Myasnikov, an expert with the Center for Arms Control at the official Institute of Physics and Technology in Moscow. "To alleviate Russia's concerns, the Americans would have to pledge to cap any deployments or else allow us to closely monitor the system. So far, the US have been very reluctant to accept any limits or real Russian participation."
