U.S. President George W. Bush announced this morning that the United States would withdraw from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty in six months (see GSN, Dec. 12). 

“Today I have given formal notice to Russia, in accordance with the treaty, that the United States of America is withdrawing from this almost 30-year-old treaty,” Bush said.

Bush said U.S.-Russian relations would not be harmed.  “[Russian] President [Vladimir] Putin and I have also agreed that my decision to withdraw from the treaty will not in any way undermine our new relationship or Russian security,” Bush said (MSNBC, Dec. 13).

Russian Response

As of this morning there was no official response from the Putin administration, but other Russian officials yesterday criticized the then-planned withdrawal announcement.

“I can explain it only by two things: either it is absolute deafness or urgent internal demands, a desire to convince the public of the United States that President Bush is faithful to his election promises,” said Vladimir Lukin, vice speaker of the Russian Duma.  “I don’t know why [Bush] does it.  He is popular even without it.

Many Russia analysts believe the Bush move undermines domestic political support for Putin, according to the New York Times.  Putin has moved toward a cooperative relationship with the United States, despite a lack of public support, the analysts said (Michael Wines, New York Times, Dec. 13).

“My assessment is negative, but not from the strategic point of view, rather from a psychological point of view of relations between the two countries,” Lukin said.  “It is a bad sign for us.  It is a bad sign for our leadership.  It is a bad sign for our public opinion which started to shift gradually towards trusting [the United States] more” (NTV/BBC Monitoring/European Internet Network, Dec 12).

Russia will probably “preserve and develop its heavy strategic rockets which will be loaded with multiple warheads, something that had been banned by START II,” said Duma Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Dmitry Rogozin, referring to the second Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty—not formally in force—which would prohibit the United States and Russia from deploying multiple-warhead, land-based nuclear missiles.

“Russia’s hands are now untied concerning START I and START II,” Rogozin said (Agence France-Presse, Dec. 13).

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