Russian Foreign Minister hopes for possible cooperation between Russia and the USA in the sphere of the NMD

The declaration on the new framework of cooperation between Russia and the United States will have the point concerning the national missile defence (NMD). This hope was expressed by Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Igor Ivanov on Sunday, speaking live on the ORT television in the Vremya programme. According to the Russian minister, in the course of the negotiations with the American partners they are discussing the NMD system which the United States plans to create. The American partners have assured the Russian side that this system would have a limited character and would not create a threat either to the Russian strategic forces and or to the global strategic balance. Igor Ivanov expressed the hope that these principles would be "fixed in the declaration and subsequently realised in practice." For his part, US Secretary of State Colin Powell, who also took part in the programme, said that Washington was constantly discussing the NMD character with the Russian side. We share our views, plans and technologies we are working on, said Colin Powell. He assured the Russian side that the NMD had a limited nature. We do not want the NMD to threaten Russia, he underscored. Apart from that, the US Secretary of State believes that Moscow and Washington can cooperate in this sphere in which Russia has experience and technologies.