MOSCOW, Nov. 3 ? Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld arrived here today for talks with senior Russian officials on missile defense, nuclear force reductions and the war on terrorism, calling Russian President Vladimir Putin a "stalwart" in that global conflict.
Rumsfeld said it remains to be seen how Putin's new cooperative relationship with Washington will affect strategic negotiations on missile defense and the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.
But Rumsfeld, in remarks to reporters on his plane en route to Moscow, said Putin's immediate offer of assistance after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington established him as a leader willing to work "with the West and the rest of the world to help deal with this terrible problem." Rumsfeld's trip comes largely in anticipation of President Bush's summit meeting with Putin in the United States 10 days from now. U.S. and Russian officials say they are hopeful that the two leaders can announce a new strategic "understanding" that would allow the Pentagon to pursue extensive missile defense testing without scrapping the ABM accord.
But with two former Soviet republics bordering Afghanistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, now providing assistance to U.S. military forces bombing Afghanistan's ruling Taliban militia, Rumsfeld expanded his trip to build relationships with allies in the war.
He is scheduled to travel to both former Soviet republics later today. Tomorrow, he heads to Pakistan, another key ally bordering Afghanistan, and then on to India. He is scheduled to return to Washington late Monday night.
Regarding the ABM Treaty, Rumsfeld said his announcement last week that the Pentagon had postponed several missile defense radar tests that might have violated the accord was designed to show that the treaty has indeed become an impediment to the administration's ambitious missile defense agenda. While the Russians took Rumsfeld's announcement as a conciliatory nod to their ongoing support for the treaty, Rumsfeld said it was not intended as a sign that he has softened his stance on withdrawal from the accord.
"I'm not suggesting we delay withdrawal from the treaty," Rumsfeld said. "All I have said publicly on the subject is what the president has said: We need to set the treaty aside and establish a new relationship between the United States and Russia. . . . The president has said we will deploy missile defense. That can't be done with a treaty there that's an impediment."
Rumsfeld declined comment on the new strategic understanding now under discussion under which both nations would also agree to reduce the number of strategic warheads to between 1,750 and 2,250 each.
"There are all kinds of things that have been discussed at different levels by different people," Rumsfeld said. "How it will end up, we won't know until the two presidents get together in Washington."
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