Russia And USA May Agree On Future Anti-missile Defence System

NATO does not rule out that Russia and the USA may come to an agreement on the future anti-missile defence system (ABM).This conclusion can be drawn from the arguments advanced by a spokesman for the North-Atlantic alliance's headquarters in Brussels on Thursday. According to him, it is too early today to draw the final conclusions on either the American or the Russian proposals. They are still at the stage of being discussed, said the NATO official. In his opinion, the difference in the approaches today lies mainly in the assessment of possible threats. Otherwise, he said, the conceptions have a lot in common. Both sides proceed from the principle of the non-proliferation of mass destruction weapons. Russia proposes an ABM system for all of Europe, while the Americans no longer call their system a national one. Both the Russians and the Americans, noted the source, assert that they are ready for the participation of other countries in these projects. The NATO spokesman believes that the Russian and American proposals cannot be considered as mutually exclusive ones. On that ground he draws the conclusion that "perhaps the Russians and the Americans may still come to an agreement some day." In his opinion the two conceptions may be combined and not necessarily be set against each other as alternatives.