MOSCOW, April 23 (RIA Novosti) - Washington is not ready to sign a long-term strategic or offensive arms limitation deal with Moscow, the U.S. defense secretary said following negotiations with top Russian security officials Monday.
Robert Gates, on his first visit to Russia in his new capacity, also said the West should not be expected to ratify the adapted Treaty on Conventional Forces in Europe, a critical arms control deal in Europe, until Russia pulls out troops from Georgia and Moldova.
The U.S. wants to fine-tune a limitations deal, which is what both parties think should be done, he said. Gates said he anticipated other roadblocks in the negotiations, which have already lasted six years and still require endorsement by the U.S. Senate and Russia's State Duma, the lower house. He called for more informal "fast-fix" action pending legislative procedures.
Russia has repeatedly confronted claims it did not abide by its 1999 Istanbul OSCE Summit commitments to withdraw its Soviet-era military bases from Georgia and Moldova. Two of the Georgian bases, one of them in the breakaway region of Abkhazia, have been vacated, while the other two will be withdrawn in line with the schedule by the end of 2008.
In Moldova, Chisinau is legally responsible for negotiations with its own breakaway republic of Transdnestr over the Russian pullout. Two Russian battalions will remain there until Moldova reaches an agreement with Transdnestr.
The CFE Treaty was concluded in 1990 by the then 22-member NATO and the now defunct Warsaw Pact to enhance arms control in Europe. An updated version, elaborated to adapt the accord to post-Cold War realities, was signed by all the parties in 1999, but only four - Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and Kazakhstan - have ratified it so far. Others have linked it to a Russian pullout from Georgia and Moldova.
