MOSCOW PUSHES FOR START-III TALKS TO BEGIN. At the latest round of arms control talks between the U.S. and Russia, which concluded in Moscow on 18 October, Russia insisted that talks on the START-III treaty begin as soon as possible, Russian Foreign Ministry sources told Interfax. A statement issued by the ministry after the talks, which were conducted by Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Georgii Mamedov and John Holum, U.S. undersecretary of state for arms control, said there is "no objective political or military reason" why the U.S. and Russia should not reduce their warheads to 1,500 each under START-III. At the same time, the statement stressed that Moscow remains opposed to any amendments to the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, while noting that the Russia side had made some proposals on how "goals in the arms control sphere" defined by Presidents Vladimir Putin and Bill Clinton could be achieved without altering ABM. JC
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