Russia's ABM Treaty Proposals Still in Force, Yet to See Readiness for Dialogue

Russia has not withdrawn its proposals to the United States on the new Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty but is yet to receive signals of dialogue from the new administration, a senior Russian Foreign Ministry nonproliferation department official told Sputnik.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Department for Nonproliferation and Arms Control (DNAC) Deputy Director Vladimir Leontiev said "cooperation should be fully equitable and take into account the interests and concerns of both sides."

"Our ideas on this matter and our principles remain in force, these ideas remain at the negotiating table and we did not officially withdraw them," Leontiev said. "I would not want to engage in forecasting, but so far there are no encouraging signs, signals from the US side are not yet visible."

The US withdrew from the 1972 ABM Treaty, which barred the parties from deploying or providing a base for broad-coverage anti-ballistic missile systems, in 2002.

Leontiev, stressing that Moscow had always favored cooperation in arms control, noted that "our proposals to NATO on the creation of a Europe-wide missile defense system built on a sectoral basis" were also made on the principles of equality.