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U.S.-Russia: Treaty Might Not Be Ready by Summit, U.S. Ambassador Says U.S. Ambassador to Russia Alexander Vershbow has said that an agreement on nuclear weapons reductions might not be ready in time for this month’s U.S.-Russia Moscow summit, the Wall Street Journal reported today (see GSN, April 29). The two countries have made “tremendous progress” on preparing an accord before U.S. and Russian Presidents George W. Bush and Vladimir Putin meet, Vershbow said, but there are “some very complex issues still to be resolved” (Guy Chazan, Wall Street Journal, May 1). ITAR-Tass reported that a Moscow diplomat said negotiations are “intensive, serious but quite difficult,” and that “serious disagreements remain, but there is a serious discussion too” (ITAR-Tass, April 29 in FBIS-SOV, April 30). Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov is to travel to Washington Friday to meet with U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and continue work on an arms reduction agreement, said an expert in U.S.-Russian relations yesterday. “There is certain progress at the negotiations, but there are also some differences over the reduction and verification methods,” the expert said. “Russia has offered new ideas about the draft treaty. The proposals will help to legalize the reduction of arsenals to 1,700-2,200 warheads by 2012.” In the future, he said, “the agreement will be upgraded and specified” (Yevgeniya Meshalkina, ITAR-Tass, May 1).
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