NATO-Russia Council to meet at ambassadors level over ABM issue

BRUSSELS, May 5 (Itar-Tass) - Issues of cooperation in the sphere of
anti-ballistic missile (ABM) defence will be in the focus at a meeting of
the NATO-Russia Council (NRC) at the ambassadors' level on Thursday.
Russia's Permanent Representative to NATO Dmitry Rogozin told Itar-Tass
earlier that this meeting will be held after a series of consultations on
missile defence at different levels between Russia and the North Atlantic
Alliance that have been held in Brussels over the past two days.
In particular, on Wednesday, an NRC meeting at the level of the Chiefs
of the General Staff considered the ABM issues. The parties confirmed
their interest in continuing the dialogue, although they stated noted the
existing differences in approaches to cooperation in this sphere.
Simultaneously, closed-door consultations of RF Deputy Defence
Minister Anatoly Antonov with US Under Secretary of Defence James Miller
were held in Brussels in which, Rogozin said, "head of the US Missile
Defence Agency, Mr. O'Reilly took part."
"On May 5 Antonov and O'Reilly will hold at the RNC meeting in
Brussels a joint briefing on missile defence problems," said Rogozin.
According to him, at present the parties discuss proposals made during
a visit to Moscow by US Secretary of Defence Robert Gates. "The American
side was asked several questions, and we hope to get specific answers to
that questions,> the Russian envoy said.
"As for the diplomats, they are considering the possibility of
progressing to the signing of the joint declaration of the US and Russian
Presidents in Deauville (at the end of May within the Group of Eight
summit. We would this declaration to fix real guarantees that of missile
defence systems are not targeted at anyone of member countries of the
Russia-NATO Council," the Russian envoy said.
"These safeguards should be solid. They should convince everyone that
the missile defence system poses no danger to Russia," he explained.
Rogozin also said that the debate on missile defence is still far from
complete and the "Brussels session" will only be a "milestone."
Russia, the United States and NATO partners expect the first practical
results of the dialogue on this issue to be formulated at a meeting of
defence ministers of Russia and 28 NATO countries in June.
At the NRC summit in Lisbon in November 2010, Russia and NATO made the
historic decision to start the work on finding possibilities for
cooperation in the missile defence sphere.