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DATE=6/2/2000 TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT TITLE=US - RUSSIA ANTI-MISSILE (L-ONLY) NUMBER=2-263105 BYLINE=DEBORAH TATE DATELINE=BERLIN CONTENT= VOICED AT: INTRO: Clinton administration officials are cautiously welcoming comments by Russian President Vladimir Putin about joint cooperation aimed at reducing the global missile nuclear threat. The issue will be high on the agenda when President Clinton makes a three-day visit to Moscow beginning Saturday. Correspondent Deborah Tate reports from Berlin, where the President is currently traveling. Text: In an interview with American television earlier this week, Mr. Putin proposed ways to further cooperate with the United States on reducing the threat of missile attack by what Washington calls `rogue states' - such as Iran or North Korea. A U-S official speaking on condition of anonymity told VOA in Berlin that while the Russian leader's proposals were, for the most part, not well-defined, as he put it, they had many positive elements. He says Washington is seeking Moscow's cooperation on the issue. The United States wants to amend the 1972 Anti- Ballistic Missile treaty to allow for deployment of a limited missile defense system to protect against such attack. But Russia opposed the plan - fearing it would undermine decades of arms control efforts. In one part of the interview, Mr. Putin appeared to propose sharing technology with the United States and other countries to create one missile defense. But the U-S official who spoke to VOA says Mr. Putin was actually talking in much broader terms about cooperation - particularly in political and diplomatic terms - to reduce the global missile threat. He says the precise meaning of his comments may have been lost in translation. In the interview, Mr. Putin also proposed an anti- missile system that would shoot down missiles moments after they are launched, rather than in mid-course as proposed by the United States. The U-S official says the United States does not yet have such technology, and says he does not believe Russia does either. He says such technology would not be available before the first phase of a U-S plan for an anti-missile shield, which is expected by 2005. (Signed) NEB/DAT/PT 02-Jun-2000 18:50 PM EDT (02-Jun-2000 2250 UTC) NNNN Source: Voice of America .