India Against Denunciation Of The Russian-US ABN Treaty

India stands against denunciation by the USA of the 1972 ABM treaty, Indian foreign and defence minister Jaswant Singh said. At a press-conference held after his negotiations with head of the Russian Foreign Ministry Igor Ivanov on Friday, Singh noted that although this treaty is bilateral, it is linked with a whole set of issues related to the provision of international security. That is why, it must not be denounced unilaterally, the Indian minister said. He spoke for the support of Washington's proposal to hold consultations on the creation of a new missile defence system. As the Russian foreign minister told the press-conference, Moscow has its own proposals on strategic offensive armaments and anti-ballistic missile defence. In the opinion of Igor Ivanov, Russian proposals "can work better than the US ones." He said that Russia is ready for the reduction of nuclear warheads to 1,500 units on each side.