It’s better to think about this together

Moscow and Washington are trying to reach an agreement

Moscow was very pleased with the Americans’ agreement to hold consultations and even begin joint work with Russia on creating a common missile defense (BMD) system . Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said yesterday that he considers the topic of plans to deploy US missile defense elements in Europe ( in particular, in Poland and the Czech Republic ) “so important for all Europeans that relevant consultations need to be held in a wide format.”

It seems that Moscow has almost managed to convince the Americans to involve the entire military-political organization NATO, whose members are the United States, Poland, the Czech Republic and 23 other countries, in the discussion of the missile defense issue. Moscow has established a partnership with this Alliance, and on April 26, the important topic of missile defense will be discussed at the Russia-NATO Council in Oslo.

In the meantime, the Americans are trying to convince our country that the American missile defense system they are deploying in Eastern Europe does not threaten Russia. US Deputy Secretary of State Daniel Fried emphasized that “it will be better if Russia and the United States work together in the Russia-NATO Council to ultimately create a common missile defense system that can protect against common threats that are equally serious for Russia and the United States.” But how such work will proceed and where remains a mystery.

Daniel Fried, in fact, repeated the words of President Bush, who the day before yesterday in a telephone conversation suggested that Vladimir Putin hold consultations on missile defense in order to “jointly understand the degree of threats and risks and jointly develop preventive responses to such threats.” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov immediately took this as a guide to action, saying yesterday: “The political will that US President George W. Bush showed in a telephone conversation with President Putin will be put into practice during the upcoming consultations. I can only support this proposal."

Victor VOLODIN, Stanislav LYUBIMOV