Clinton, Putin can't agree on missile plan

But they do decide to destroy some plutonium and to set up a center to share early warnings about missile launches.

©Associated Press

© St. Petersburg Times, published June 5, 2000

MOSCOW -- President Clinton and Russian President Vladimir Putin acknowledged "a dangerous and growing threat" of nuclear attack from emerging powers such as North Korea but failed to agree Sunday on how to combat it.

Clinton told a joint news conference in the Kremlin that he doesn't believe a missile defense system like the one he is considering "is a threat to strategic stability and mutual deterrence."

"The Russian side disagrees," said Clinton.

"We're against having a cure which is worse than the disease," Putin said tersely.

Nonetheless, the document signed by both leaders left open the possibility for modifications in the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty down the road "to preserve strategic stability in the face of new threats."

U.S. officials characterized that as an important concession on Russia's part.

Despite their differences, the two leaders -- meeting in the Kremlin for the first time since Putin was sworn in last month -- adopted a statement pledging intensified cooperation on missile-related issues.

"We've asked our experts to keep working to narrow the differences, and to develop a series of cooperative measures to address the missile threat," Clinton said. He stressed that he still hasn't made a decision on whether to go ahead with such a system, which would be aimed at protecting U.S. shores against attack from North Korea, Iran or other states with a nuclear weapons potential. He has said he will decide later this year whether it is feasible and worthwhile.

The summit did produce two other narrow agreements. One was an undertaking by the United States and Russia to each destroy 34 metric tons (about 75,000 pounds) of weapons-grade plutonium -- enough to make tens of thousands of nuclear weapons. The other called for a joint center in Moscow to share early warnings about missile launches -- a facility that would be the first-ever permanent U.S.-Russia military operation.

These are "major steps to reduce the nuclear danger," Clinton said.

Overall, senior administration officials described the atmosphere between the lame-duck American president and the new Russian president as correct and businesslike, though not necessarily warm. That was evident at their news conference.

Although the two presidents shook hands as they entered the hall, and Clinton gently nudged Putin to pose with him for the cameras afterwards, they did not look or smile at each other during their opening statements or while answering questions.

After two days of talks, Clinton said he believes Putin, a former KGB official, "is fully capable of building a prosperous, strong Russia." Putin said Clinton is "a person who is a very comfortable and pleasant partner in negotiation."

The issue of a proposed limited national missile defense -- and the changes in the 1972 ABM treaty that would be required to accommodate it -- was a top issue on the agenda for the talks.

The administration had lowered expectations for a breakthrough in advance of the session, and none was achieved.

"President Putin made absolutely clear to President Clinton that Russia continues to oppose changes to the ABM treaty that the United States has proposed since last September," Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott told reporters.

Talbott, who is also Clinton's special adviser on Russia, said the summit produced "neither a dead end . . . nor a destination" on the subject of missile defense. He said Putin was clearly sensitive to the threat from so-called rogue regimes.

"The world that is covered by the ABM treaty changed very vividly on August 31, 1998, when the North Koreans fired that missile," Talbott said, referring to the multistage missile fired by North Korea that passed over Japan and fell into the Pacific Ocean.

In the joint statement, Clinton and Putin agreed that "the international community faces a dangerous and growing threat of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery, including missiles and missile technologies."

The missile shield concept also has critics in the United States, from arms control activists worried about a new arms race to conservatives who favor a more ambitious program along the lines envisioned by Ronald Reagan in the 1980s.

Reagan's proposal for a space-based missile defense program was ridiculed by Democrats at the time as "Star Wars." Clinton, an earlier opponent of such a system, last year reversed course to support a limited missile shield.

Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush, who favors a more expansive program, had urged Clinton to leave negotiations with Putin to the next president. Putin took notice of the U.S. presidential campaigns, saying he was willing to improve U.S.-Russian ties "no matter who gets to be president."

Clinton also reiterated U.S. opposition to the continuing Russian military crackdown in the separatist region of Chechnya. They talked about tensions in the Balkans, and Russia's economic plight.

Later Sunday, Clinton spent 25 minutes on a call-in radio program, fielding questions from Russians who appeared more eager to learn about his personal life than weighty foreign policy issues.

He told listeners he was proud of daughter Chelsea's progress in college and of his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, who is running for the Senate from New York.

Asked by the show's host, Aleksei Venediktov, if he could direct "the tax authorities to audit CNN," Clinton replied, "That would be illegal."

-- Information from the New York Times was used in this report.

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