DATE=6/4/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=CLINTON - RUSSIA (L-2ND UPDATE)
NUMBER=2-263140
BYLINE=MOSCOW
DATELINE=DEBORAH TATE
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:


INTRO:  The United States and Russia have announced a 
nuclear nonproliferation accord and an agreement to 
create an early warning system to detect missile 
launches.  Correspondent Deborah Tate reports 
President Clinton and Russian President Vladimir Putin 
are discussing those and other issues in Moscow.

TEXT:  U-S officials are praising the agreements as 
highly significant, saying they will result in 
tangible national and international security benefits.

The two sides have agreed to dispose of 34-metric-tons 
of weapons-grade plutonium, each, during the next two-
decades - enough to make thousands of nuclear weapons.  
The project is estimated to cost nearly six-billion 
dollars, and officials say they will seek funding from 
allies at next month's meeting of the world's leading 
industrialized nations in Okinawa, Japan.

U-S officials say the agreement on a shared early 
warning system is aimed at preventing a nuclear attack 
based on a false missile launch detection.  A tracking 
center is to be established in Moscow next year, to be 
manned by U-S and Russian personnel.  It will provide 
a real-time exchange of information about launchings 
by either country.  Details of launchings by other 
countries would also be made available, if the missile 
crosses U-S or Russian territory.

Washington is also working with Moscow to reach 
agreement on a plan to limit Russian production of 
plutonium from the spent fuel of civilian reactors.  
U-S officials say progress is being hampered by 
Russian nuclear cooperation with Iran - which they 
fear could help Tehran acquire nuclear weapons.

While the summit has resulted in accords on 
nonproliferation and a missile launch detection 
system, U-S officials do not expect any major 
breakthrough on the contentious issue of a national 
missile defense.

The United States want to amend the 1972 Anti-
Ballistic Missile Treaty to allow for deployment of 
such a system to protect against attack by what it 
calls `rogue states' like North Korea or Iran.  Russia 
opposes the move, and threatens to abandon previous 
arms control pacts if Washington moves ahead over its 
objections.

Moscow has offered its own proposal for joint 
cooperation to reduce the missile threat, but U-S 
officials have declared it unworkable.   (SIGNED)

NEB/DAT/RAE



04-Jun-2000 10:20 AM EDT (04-Jun-2000 1420 UTC)
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Source: Voice of America
.