Official Says ABM Treaty Central to Russia's Security

By Anatoliy Yurkin
Moscow ITAR-TASS
in English 1705 GMT 17 Apr 95


[FBIS Transcribed Text] Moscow, April 17 (ITAR-TASS) -- The treaty on the limitation of anti-ballistic missile systems (ABM) signed by the United States and former Soviet Union in 1972, should remain the most effective international agreement in the arms control sphere, according to an expert of the Moscow centre for disarmament, energy and ecology.

In an exclusive interview with TASS on Monday, Pavel Podvig warned that the current talks in Geneva for amending this document threaten to hurt Russia's national security.

In 1993, the U.S. Administration suggested making a number of conceptual amendments to the ABM Treaty, the expert recalled. Russia's approval of these amendments will amount to its agreement to U.S. going ahead with developing anti-ballistic missile systems intended to protect the United States and its allies against short-range and medium-range missile attacks. The U.S. has already developed and tested such a system called TAAD.

The analysis carried out by Russian and foreign experts shows that the ABM systems designed by the United States in case of amending the treaty, will not only be capable of intercepting ballistic missiles, but will also lay down a basis for the country's anti-missile defence system. This is to result in lifting the existing restrictions on deployment of ABM strategic systems, Podvig believes. Therefore, the Russian negotiating team in Geneva should try to preserve intact the main provisions of the 1972 ABM Treaty as fully meeting Russia's national interests and security.


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