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US official to Moscow for arms talks next week
12 Dec 2008 22:07:57 GMT
 Source: Reuters
WASHINGTON, Dec 12 (Reuters) - The Bush administration, with just weeks left in office, said on Friday it will send a senior official to Moscow next week for talks on nuclear arms control and the divisive issue of a U.S. missile shield in Europe.

Critics said the effort was largely symbolic, with insufficient time left before the Bush administration steps down Jan. 20 to reach an arms agreement with Moscow.

"It is clearly going to be up to the (President-elect Barack) Obama administration to pick up the pieces," said Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association in Washington.

The State Department announced that John Rood, the acting under secretary of state for arms control, will lead a team of experts to the Russian capital on Monday for "strategic security discussions with a Russian interagency delegation."

The topics would include the proposed U.S. missile shield, a follow-on agreement to the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) nuclear arms treaty, and combating proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, a department statement said.

The dispute over the Bush administration's plans to deploy a missile shield in Poland and the Czech Republic has helped drive relations between Moscow and Washington to a post-Cold War low.

U.S. officials say the system aims to protect the United States and its allies from attacks by states that might someday fire a small number of missiles, such as Iran.

But Russia considers the U.S. plan a security threat, and Russia's military said last month it had intensified efforts to develop new ballistic missiles in response.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said late last month that the only way Washington could really allay Russia's concerns would be to drop the missile shield program.

Obama has supported work on a system to protect the United States from missile attacks, but says it must be proven to work and have the support of U.S. allies before it is deployed. (Reporting by Susan Cornwell, editing by Philip Barbara)


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Last updated:Fri Dec 12 22:09:57 2008