DATE=10/21/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=U-S-RUSSIA ARMS (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-255337
BYLINE=DAVID GOLLUST
DATELINE=WHITE HOUSE
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:


INTRO:  The Clinton Administration says it is not 
giving up its efforts to persuade Russia to agree to 
modify the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty despite 
Moscow's chilly response to U-S overtures on the 
issue.  A new round of arms talks began Thursday in 
Moscow. V-O-A's David Gollust reports from the White 
House.

TEXT:  Officials here say dialogue continues on the A-
B-M treaty despite Russia's seemingly adamant 
opposition to amendments that would accommodate a 
limited U-S missile defense system.

Concluded in 1972, the treaty sharply restricted the 
testing and deployment of missile interceptors by the 
United States and the former Soviet Union.  The idea 
was to insure the nuclear deterrence of both 
superpowers, while avoiding a costly anti-missile arms 
race.

But U-S strategists now believe that the danger of a 
massive nuclear strike from Russia has been eclipsed 
by the threat of an accidental missile launch or a 
nuclear-tipped weapon fired by a so-called "rogue 
state" such as North Korea.  And pressed by Congress, 
the Administration is seeking changes to the A-B-M 
treaty to allow a limited U-S program to go forward.

President Clinton and Russian President Boris Yeltsin 
agreed in Cologne last June to discuss modifications.  
But as senior negotiators of the two sides convened in 
Moscow Thursday, the Russian foreign ministry was 
saying it isn't interested in any amendments.

However, pressed by reporters, Clinton spokesman Joe 
Lockhart said the White House does not consider the 
Russian statement the last word, and that the talks 
continue:

            /// Lockhart Act ///

      It's a very important treaty.  We also believe 
      that due to the increasing threat of rogue 
      states with ballistic missile that we need to 
      move forward and to look at the feasibility of a 
      national missile defense.  We have done a lot of 
      work on that.  We will make a decision next year 
      on deployment.  And that's why, given the 
      importance of those two things, we have to work 
      closely with the Russians on looking at ways 
      where we can deepen our cooperation and amending 
      - where necessary - the treaty.

            /// End Act ///

The administration has offered to share anti-missile 
technology and to help Russia complete a missile 
tracking facility in Siberia in exchange for 
supporting treaty changes, though Moscow has indicated 
its opposition to those ideas as well.

The Moscow talks are also to cover prospects for 
further strategic weapons cuts under a proposed START-
Three treaty.  But U-S officials say those discussions 
are complicated by the A-B-M dispute and the Russian 
parliament's failure to ratify the 1993 START-Two 
agreement.

They also admit the U-S position has not been helped 
by the U-S Senate's rejection earlier this month of 
the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. (Signed)

NEB/DAG/JP




21-Oct-1999 16:06 PM EDT (21-Oct-1999 2006 UTC)
NNNN

Source: Voice of America
.