U.S., Russia Could Discuss Nuclear Arms Verification

The United States and Russia are expected to discuss strategic arms control verification issues tomorrow, Inside the Pentagon reported.  Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Kislyak is scheduled to meet with U.S. Undersecretary of State Robert Joseph in Washington (see GSN, Aug. 18).

Russia is interested in extending some of the verification tools now used by the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty which is set to expire in 2009, the newsletter reported.  The START agreement created a detailed set of provisions to verify and monitor U.S. and Russian efforts to reduce to their strategic nuclear warhead forces to less than 6,000 each (see GSN, June 20).

A follow-on pact, the 2002 Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty, calls for further nuclear cuts to be made by 2012, but has no verification provisions.

Whether or not the two nations agree to formally extend some of the START provisions, Russia is seeking a “legally binding” agreement to apply to future arms control deals, a Russian official said (see GSN, June 28).

That view would probably not be supported by the Bush administration (see GSN, June 22, 2004).

“I don’t think anyone has an appetite for those big, giant documents that try to script every single element of strategic forces,” a senior Bush administration told the newsletter earlier this year.  “That’s sort of a thing of the past, I hope.”

A U.S. official played down any expectations from tomorrow’s meeting with Kislyak.

“He’s just dropping by to say hi,” he said (Sebastian Sprenger, Inside the Pentagon, Dec. 7).

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