First Deputy Chief Of Russian General Staff Forces Yuri Baluyevsky: USA Gives No Reaction To Russian Initiative On Cooperation In Developing Non-strategic ABM

So far, the USA has not reacted to the Russian initiative on cooperation in the field of non-strategic ABM, first deputy chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, colonel-general Yuri Baluyevsky, told journalists upon his arrival in the US capital. "So far, we had received no answers to our concrete proposals on cooperation in the field of non-strategic ABM", he said. Yuri Baluyevsky stressed that a meeting of experts of the two countries' military departments was being held in new conditions after the USA had declared its withdrawal from the ABM treaty. "We are against the withdrawal from the treaty, but the choice has been made," he pointed out. In this connection Yuri Baluyevsky stressed that the very fact that this meeting is being held is a certain success. "Today we have new conditions under which it is necessary to search for new forms of relations, and the military element of these new forms of relations is the subject of our conversation", the general concluded.