Russian analysts hail arms deal with US

Russian officials and arms control analysts praised the nuclear arms deal at the centre of the US-Russian summit today, saying it allows Russia to remain an equal partner of the United States.

‘‘The positive meaning of the new treaty is that once again it has fixed the equal status of Russia and the United States as two nuclear superpowers, and fixed that relation for a rather long time,’’ said Ret Gen Vladimir Dvorkin, a former top arms control negotiator who helped draft previous nuclear deals with Washington.

The US-Russian treaty, which was being signed by US President George Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin today, foresees cuts in each country’s nuclear arsenals to 1,700 to 2,200 warheads from the approximately 6,000 that each is now allowed.

‘‘This is important not only for relations between Russia and the United States but also with all the countries of the world,’’ Dvorkin said on Russia’s ORT television.

Bush, initially reluctant to codify the nuclear arms reductions, later agreed to Putin’s push for a legally binding treaty.

‘‘This treaty is a serious achievement of Russian diplomacy,’’ said Sergei Rogov, the head of the USA and Canada Institute, a leading think-tank specializing in arms control and foreign affairs.

‘‘A few months ago, the United States didn’t want to take on any legal obligations, and it appeared that the whole arms control regime would disintegrate, especially after the United States pulled out of the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty,’’ Rogov said on ORT.

Bush and Putin were also set to discuss possible future co-operation in building defences against ballistic missiles.

Russia has voiced strong concern about US missile defence plans, saying they will upset global stability and trigger a new arms race by encouraging other nations to develop technology capable of penetrating the US anti-missile shield.

Speaking on Russian television on Thursday night, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov called the US decision to unilaterally withdraw from the 1972 ABM treaty a ‘‘mistake’’.

Ivanov also denied that the arms reduction treaty being signed today hurts Russian national security interests.

‘‘It is a compromise that is meeting our interests today,’’ he said. ‘‘This compromise hasn’t been made at the expense of Russian interests and its security.’’

While Washington accepted Russia’s proposal to formalise the arms reductions in a treaty, it dismissed Russian complaints about the Pentagon’s plan to stockpile some of the decommissioned weapons rather than destroy them.

That prompted Russian hard-liners to assail the treaty as caving in to the United States, and Communist Party chief Gennady Zyuganov accused Putin of treason.

The arms control deal reflects the continuing warming of relations, bolstered by Putin’s support for the US war on terrorism.

But the summit agenda is marred by US concern about Russia’s military and nuclear co-operation with Iran and Moscow’s criticism of possible US military action against Iraq, another longtime ally of Moscow.

Ivanov said US accusations that Russia is helping Iran create a weapons programme ‘‘don’t correspond to reality’’.

‘‘Russia firmly adheres to the principle of non-proliferation of nuclear weapons,’’ he said. ‘‘If Washington has concerns, we should investigate them together.’’

Ivanov reaffirmed that Russia was opposed to a military action in Iraq and was exerting every effort to prevent the start of a new war.