U.S. wants Russia's permission to establish missile defense system

WASHINGTON -- The United States will launch negotiations with Russia to modify the 1972 ABM to allow Washington to establish a missile defense system.

The announcement came after a meeting between Vice President Al Gore and Russian Prime Minister Sergei Stepashin. Gore said both countries plan to reduce their nuclear arsenals and begin discussions next month on a new arms control treaty, termed START III.

"In addition, we both understand that there are ballistic missile threats we both face that do not come from each other, but from other nations," Gore said. "That is why it is important in parallel with achieving our arms control objectives to discuss implications for the ABM Treaty should the United States decide to deploy a National Missile Defense."

Last month, Russian President Boris Yeltsin agreed to consider changes to the ABM treaty that Washington wants to enable the possible development of a U.S. missile defense system.

A statement by Gore and Stepashin after the meeting said they also agreed to accelerate work on implementing the agreement reached by Presidents Clinton and Yeltsin in September 1998 on exchange of information on missile launches and early warning.

The two officials decided to cooperate in commercial space cooperation, law enforcement and tighten Russia's export controls to halt nuclear and missile proliferation to rogue states.

The two men acknowledged that they also discussed a U.S. demand to reduce the number of Russian spies in the United States. Gore said Samuel Berger, President Clinton's national security assistant, and Vladimir Putin, Berger's Russian counterpart, will take up the matter in private discussions.