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Clinton, Putin look at Russian missile-cuts proposal

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November 16, 2000 

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN-- (UNB/AP) - U.S. President Bill Clinton examined proposals by Russia's President Vladimir Putin for drastic reductions in their nuclear arsenals when both leaders met during a Pacific Rim summit Wednesday.

During a 75-minute working lunch, the leaders focused on arms control and strategic stability, which includes the highly controversial proposed U.S. national missile defense that Clinton will leave for his still-unknown successor to wrestle with.

The pair met on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum summit of 21 Pacific Rim countries in this oil-rich sultanate.

On Monday, raising the stakes of what may be his last meeting with Clinton, Putin proposed a bold arms control gambit - for both countries to make nuclear cuts on condition that Washington scrap the missile defense option.

A senior U.S. official, briefing reporters on customary condition of anonymity, said the proposals contained few new elements but lay within existing arms control frameworks and would be addressed by experts.

Putin, who is pushing to downsize a huge and inefficient military that Russia can no longer afford, has proposed cutting nuclear arms under the limit of 1,500 warheads that Russia has been advocating until now. He has not proposed any specific numbers.

The U.S. official was asked if the Russian leader sought assurances from Clinton about Republican candidate George W. Bush's vow to move forward on the missile defense if he becomes president.

The official said that Clinton assured Putin the United States remains committed to existing arms control frameworks.

Putin has said that the 1,500-warhead level could be achieved by 2008, but only if the United States does not go ahead with missile defense.

The missile defense plan envisions a system that would shoot down enemy missiles before they reach the United States. Backers say it is needed to defend against so-called rogue states such as Iran and North Korea.

But preliminary tests have largely failed and critics say such a system will be hugely costly and unworkable. Clinton has left the decision to his successor.

"And that has, to some degree, held the issue in abeyance," the U.S. official said. "But it has not gone away because we believe that there are new ballistic missile threats out there that do need to be addressed in a systematic manner."

After years of delay, Russia's parliament in April ratified the START II arms reduction treaty, which would roughly halve arsenals to about 3,500 warheads each. As soon as the treaty goes into effect, the sides have tentatively agreed to go ahead with a START III treaty that envisages further cuts, to 2,000 to 2,500 warheads.

Analysts say the United States has roughly 7,500 nuclear weapons, while Russia has between 6,000 and 7,000. START II has not taken effect because the Russian parliament added conditions not yet ratified by the U.S. Senate.

The cash-strapped Russian government is under intense pressure to cut military spending, which makes up one-third of the federal budget, even though Russia spends only about dlrs 5.1 billion on defense - compared with annual U.S. defense spending of around dlrs 290 billion.