RF, NATO to discuss coop'n on ABM in Brussels Wed

BRUSSELS (Itar-Tass) - A roundtable meeting on Russia and
NATO cooperation on anti-ballistic missile (ABM) system is to be held here
on Wednesday. The meeting has been organized by the influential
international analytical center, the East-West Institute, which on a
permanent basis holds expert conferences on key problems of our times.
The forthcoming discussion will involve Dmitry Rogozin, Russia's
Permanent Representative at NATO and special representaitves of theRF
president oninteraction with NATO on ABM, Robert Bell, a defense adviser
to the US Permanent Representative at NATO, Francois-Xavier de Donnea,
head of tje Foreign Affairs Committee of the Belgian House of
Representatives, as well as diplomats, journalists, scientists, and
experts on security.
Two main subjects are to be discussed: political and mlitary-technical
aspects of Russia and NATO cooperation on ABM.
A decision to launch interaction in the sphere of defense was made by
the leaders of Russia and NATO in November last year in Lisbon. Experts
are currently at work with a view to determining a common vision of
principles on which Russia and NATO would be building their anti-missile
defense systems.
At the present stage, the positions of Russia and the Alliance
differe from each other. NATO suggests establishing two anti-missile
defense systems that would be independent of each other. The two systems
would interact in monitoring the airspace and in exchanging intelligence
data.
Russia, for its part, suggests creating mutually complementary
systems, not independent ones. The systems would operate on a sectoral
principle would not be deployed facing each other: i. e. a Russian ABM
would not be directed towards the west while a NATO's one towards the east.
Russia also suggests limiting the capabilities of those systems to
intercenpt intermediate-range missiles and thereby gettting a guarantee
that NATO's ABM system may not be used for blocking Russia's nuclear
missile potential.