More likely than not, the Moscow negotiations of the U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, 2nd left, and Defense Secretary Robert Gates, right, with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, center, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, left, weren’t particularly effective.
Photo: Dmitry Azarov
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U.S. Proposals Reached Russia’s Diplomats with Delay
Through technical reasons, perhaps, Russia’s diplomats have received files with the U.S. missile defense proposals with extensive delay. Analysts of the RF Foreign Ministry are studying the documents now.
More likely than not, the Moscow negotiations of the U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, President-Elect Dmitry Medvedev, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov weren’t particularly effective. Lavrov, for instance, told the reporters yesterday that the parties are yet divided about the missile defense.
Serdyukov echoed comments of the foreign minister. When speaking about the difference, he said: “Our experts will discuss them, of course. I think we will proceed working in this direction. It is necessary to see these actions (provided by the United States), understand them. Anyway, we will continue this work in an effort to near our positions somehow.”
The written proposals on missile defense that the U.S. party was to hand over to the Russians were to emerge as the final point at negotiations. Condoleezza Rice left Moscow early Wednesday and Robert Gates followed her in a while but the RF Foreign Ministry was still without the proposals.
The document reached Russia’s diplomats not long ago. “We have received the U.S. proposals, they are being studied,” a well-informed source told Interfax on condition of anonymity.
Today’s stumbling block of Russia’s-U.S. relations is the plans of Washington to deploy a missile defense shield in Poland and the Czech Republic.
www.kommersant.com
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