DATE=4/26/2000
TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT
TITLE=U-S - RUSSIA ARMS
NUMBER=5-46203
BYLINE=DAVID GOLLUST
DATELINE=WHITE HOUSE
CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO:  The Clinton administration says it will 
continue seeking a compromise with Russia on missile 
defenses and new strategic arms cuts -- this despite a 
threat by Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman 
Jesse Helms to block any arms deals made in the final 
months of President Clinton's term. V-O-A's David 
Gollust reports from the White House.


TEXT:  Mr. Helms' chairmanship gives him powerful 
tools to impede action on arms agreements. But 
administration officials say he does not represent the 
entire Senate, and if an acceptable compromise can be 
forged with Moscow on missile defenses and arms cuts 
this year, the White House will do its persuasive best 
to get enabling legislation through the Senate.

The comments follow a stark warning by Chairman Helms 
in a speech on the Senate floor Wednesday that he will 
allow no arms agreements to move through his committee 
for the rest of President Clinton's term, in order to 
give Mr. Clinton's successor a free hand in nuclear 
policy-making.

The conservative Senator Helms - who has sparred with 
the Clinton White House on past arms issues - says he 
fears President Clinton wants to conclude an arms 
accord with Moscow in his final months in office that 
would impede the United States' ability to develop a 
missile defense.

The administration is hoping that Moscow - as part of 
an arms package this year - will accept amendments to 
the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty that will 
enable United States to deploy a limited defense 
system aimed at intercepting missiles fired by North 
Korea or other so-called "rogue states."

But in his Senate speech, Senator Helms reiterated his 
stand that the A-B-M treaty, concluded with the now-
defunct Soviet government, is no longer in force. He 
warned that any agreement maintaining the A-B-M treaty 
and limiting U-S missile defense efforts would be, in 
his words, "dead on arrival" in the Senate:

            /// HELMS ACTUALITY ///

      After dragging his feet on missile defense for 
      eight years, Mr. Clinton now fervently hopes 
      that he will be permitted in his final eight 
      months in office to tie the hands of the next 
      president of the United States. He believes that 
      he will be allowed to constrain the next 
      administration from pursuing a real national 
      missile defense. Is that what he believes, or 
      even hopes? Well, I for one have a message for 
      President Clinton: not on my watch, Mr. 
      President. Not on my watch. It's not going to 
      happen.

            /// END ACT ///

The Clinton administration agrees with Moscow that the 
A-B-M treaty is still valid. But White House officials 
believe a deal can be struck that would give the 
United States leeway under the treaty to field a 
limited defense system - possibly in exchange for the 
deeper strategic arms reductions sought by Moscow 
under a proposed START-Three treaty.

The administration has already begun preliminary 
negotiations with Moscow on such an arrangement. And 
State Department spokesman James Rubin says he hopes 
that if an accord can be reached that meets U-S needs, 
the Senate will approve it -- Senator Helms' views 
notwithstanding:

            /// RUBIN ACTUALITY ///

      If the Russians can agree to that, we will be 
      making a very strong and powerful case that this 
      is the course of wisdom for the United States. 
      And it's not a surprise to us that there are 
      senators that would wish the A-B-M treaty would 
      go away. They've been trying to do that for 
      quite some time. That's not new. And so what we 
      will do is make the most persuasive case that we 
      can - if we get this amendment - that this is 
      the best way to defend the United States while 
      advancing American security. And we hope that 
      all senators put the national interest over any 
      potential ideological opposition to a treaty 
      from 30 years ago.

            /// END ACT ///

Senator Helms delivered his warning to the Clinton 
White House as Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov 
was in Washington for talks laying groundwork for the 
Moscow summit between President Clinton and Russian 
president-elect Vladimir Putin planned for the first 
week in June.

In a talk with reporters at Washington's National 
Press Club, Mr. Ivanov - who spoke through an 
interpreter - said abandoning the A-B-M treaty would 
be a "fatal mistake" that would undo 30 years of 
disarmament efforts:

            /// IVANOV-INTERPRETER ACTUALITY ///

      Washington will either ratify a similar package, 
      and preserve the A-B-M treaty, which will open 
      the way to the continuation of the process of 
      significant reductions of strategic offensive 
      arms and strategic stability. Or the line in 
      favor of implementation by the U-S of the 
      national missile defense system deployment plans 
      will prevail - which would inevitably undermine 
      the whole architecture in the area of 
      disarmament, which our countries  have been 
      building together  with the world community for 
      the past 30 years.

            /// END ACT ///

Mr. Ivanov said Moscow is open to a "constructive 
alternative" to an A-B-M confrontation involving a 
START-Three deal that would reduce strategic arsenals 
to 15-hundred warheads on both sides. That would be 
only half the number allowable under the START-Two 
treaty, which was ratified by the Russian parliament 
earlier this month after years of delay. (Signed)

NEB/DAG/TVM/gm



26-Apr-2000 16:55 PM EDT (26-Apr-2000 2055 UTC)
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Source: Voice of America
.