USA will explain to NATO member-states its national missile defence initiatives

High-ranking US experts will arrive in NATO headquarters on Tuesday for holding consultations. Their task is to explain to their NATO allies the essence of the United States' plans to create a new missile defence system which President George Bush proclaimed the other day. According to a NATO spokesman, the alliance was sincerely interested when it acquainted itself with official Moscow's reaction to President Bush's statement. That reaction in many respects coincides with the assessment of the situation which the NATO member-states had given to the American initiative. In the opinion of the NATO spokesman, Russia and the USA have a common base for discussing the NMD and new prospects in that sphere. He referred, in particular, to the visit to NATO on April 26 by Marshal Igor Sergeyev, the Russian President's aide for strategic stability, who demonstrated the Russian side's readiness to hold consultations on the NMD problem.