Russia receives US missile shield plan
Foreign Desk Report

MOSCOW—Russia received written U.S. proposals on Wednesday which Washington hopes will allay Moscow’s concerns over plans to deploy elements of a missile shield in Europe, Russian news agencies reported.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates promised Russian counterparts at talks in Moscow on Tuesday to offer a set of confidence-building measures aimed at easing Russia’s opposition to the project.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who reiterated Russia’s criticism of the Missile Shield plan, described the U.S. offer on Tuesday as “pretty serious and interesting” and said Moscow was waiting for it to be presented in writing by Tuesday night. The U.S. proposals arrived in the Russian Foreign ministry on Wednesday, Interfax news agency quoted an unnamed diplomatic source as saying. “They are being studied now,” the source was quoted as saying by Interfax.
The confirmation on Wednesday afternoon in Moscow followed the Russian criticism of the U.S. delay earlier in the day. “In spite of promises yesterday, written proposals from the American side have not yet been received by us,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Mikhail Kamynin said on Wednesday morning.
The United States wants to install parts of the shield in former Soviet satellites Poland and the Czech Republic to protect against missiles from what it terms “rogue states” but Russia opposes the plan, saying it will threaten its security. Russia complained late last year that a previous oral suggestion from the United States on how to allay Moscow’s concerns on the shield had not been followed up in writing. Gates committed the U.S. side on Tuesday to putting down on paper its suggestions on confidence-building measures before the end of the day. The two sides failed to agree on the missile defense shield, one of the key issues dividing them, at the talks on Tuesday. Russian Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov said that “on the matter of principle, the positions of our two sides have not changed”.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said talks with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates had also produced no agreement on how to replace a Cold War-era pact on long-range nuclear weapons when it expires.
Announcing the failure to agree, Lavrov told a news conference: “...I mean first and foremost on the missile shield plan and the future of the START treaty after it expires next year.” Moscow opposes the missile defense shield, saying its deployment in Poland and the Czech Republic would threaten Russia’s security. Washington says it is needed as protection against “rogue states,” meaning Iran.
Despite these failures at the talks in Moscow, Rice said the meetings had been useful and the two sides had agreed to negotiate a strategic framework agreement governing all aspects of their relationship.
Rice and Gates met Lavrov and Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov after seeing President Vladimir Putin and president-elect Dmitry Medvedev on Monday. Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said the United States had proposed a document to Russia setting out priority areas for long-term discussion and the sides were discussing it.
“It lays out a series of issues that we believe we should be focusing on, working together on now as our governments transition in the coming months and as new administrations take shape,” Morrell said. Putin referred to the document on Monday, when he said President George W. Bush had sent him a letter which offered a chance to improve relations. Diplomatic relations between the United States and Russia have hit a post-Cold War low although trade between them increased to $17.5 billion last year, from $15 billion in 2006, and U.S. companies have invested heavily in Russia.