Russia nervous over US missile plan

Some argue that missile defence will trigger an arms race

By Robert Parsons in Moscow

US President George W Bush telephoned Russian leader Vladimir Putin to discuss nuclear weapons and disarmament, just hours before delivering a keynote speech on national security strategy.

The Kremlin press service said President Bush had assured Mr Putin that the United States would not make unilateral decisions on issues of nuclear security.

These are reassuring words from Mr Bush, but they are unlikely to calm Russian nerves.

Despite the phone call to President Putin, Mr Bush's vision of a defensive nuclear strategy - including a missile defence shield - is likely to elicit an angry Russian response.

Unilateral action

Moscow says Washington's plans for a national missile defence system would undermine the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, the corner stone of nuclear arms control and world security since 1972.

Putin says the missile defence system will harm international relations

The Americans say they will not act unilaterally, but Moscow clearly understands it will not be able to prevent any American decision to abrogate the treaty.

The new US administration says Russia's concerns reflect Cold War thinking and not modern reality.

It says it has to protect itself from so-called rogue states, like North Korea, which have growing access to nuclear missile technology.

Russia is far from convinced: It sees the plan as an attempt by the United States to establish global military dominance and warns that it could provoke a new arms race.

The sweetener for the Russians though is that President Bush is also calls for a reduction in the US nuclear arsenal beyond the limits of the START 2 treaty on nuclear disarmament.

But it is going to take more than that to persuade Moscow that this is in its interests.