U.S. Offers Missile Defense Perks to Russia

The Bush administration is offering a new, stronger set of incentives to Russia in hopes of garnering Moscow’s support for deploying missile defense installations in Europe, the New York Times reported Saturday (see GSN, April 20).

The offers for cooperation on missile defense technology development, intelligence sharing and Russian inspections of planned missile bases are “deeper, more specific and concrete” than earlier proposals, a top administration official said.  They would include an invitation “toward fundamental integration of our systems,” said a senior military official.

Senior Bush administration officials, including Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, are due to discuss the offers in coming weeks.  That could lead to talks on the matter in the summer and fall between U.S. President George W. Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Putin and other top Russian officials in recent months have laid into U.S. plans to install 10 missile interceptors in Poland and a radar base in the Czech Republic.  Moscow argues that having the system so close to the Russian border could undermine the nation’s strategic security, and has threatened to respond accordingly.

U.S. allies in Europe have pressed Washington to increase efforts to answer Russian concerns about the program, which contributed to the development of the new proposals.

“In the past, the Russians have not taken our offers of cooperation seriously, whether because they view them as insufficient or because they are obstinate on missile defense,” one senior administration official told the Times.  “So Gates and then Rice will put their weight behind this new offer.  We will not give Russia a veto over our program, but this goes well beyond ‘passive’ cooperation to new and active ways we can work together against common threats.”

“We were a little late in the game,” another U.S. official said.  “We should have been out there making these arguments, making the case more forcefully before people began faming the debate for us — and in false terms” (Thom Shanker, New York Times, April 21).

Russian officials gave no public indication that their view on the U.S. plan has changed as Gates visited Moscow today, Reuters reported.

“The strategic missile defense system is a serious destabilizing factor which could have significant impact on regional and global security,” said Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov, according to Interfax.

Russian officials have expressed concerns that offensive weapons could be deployed at the missile defense sites.  While they have backed consideration of a collective system against the threat of rogue nations, they have been frustrated by Washington’s unilateral action on the matter, Reuters reported (Kristin Roberts, Reuters/Washington Post, April 23).

Rice met Friday with Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg to discuss missile defense and other issues, the Associated Press reported.

“We all face common threats, and we need to prepare for those threats,” Rice said (Associated Press, April 20).

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