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US withdraws from ABM treaty

This article is more than 22 years old

The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, today said that the United States' decision to withdraw from the 1972 anti-ballistic missile (ABM) treaty was a "mistake".

He was speaking after the US president, George Bush, announced that he was serving formal notice to Russia that Washington intended to pull out of the treaty, describing it as one of "last vestiges" of the cold war as he justified the decision.

Mr Putin repeated Russia's often-stated position that the treaty is a cornerstone of world security on a TV address to the Russian people.

The ABM treaty has underpinned all of the nuclear arms control agreements of the past 30 years but it forbids the US from building its national missile defence system, which has remained one of the Bush administration's key policies.

"Defending the American people is my highest priority as commander in chief and I cannot and will not allow the United States to remain in a treaty that prevents us from developing effective defences," Mr Bush told reporters in the White House rose garden earlier today.

He said that he had discussed the withdrawal with Mr Putin, and received assurances that the decision would not affect relations between the two countries. Mr Bush yesterday told Tom Daschle, the Senate majority leader, and three other congressional leaders that talks with Russia had not reached a point at which the two nations could agree to change the treaty enough to preserve it.

But the Russian prime minister, Mikhail Kasyanov, said the decision was regrettable because it undermined global strategic balances. "Russia can be unconcerned with its defence systems, maybe other nations should be concerned if the United States chooses to abandon the anti-ballistic missile treaty," he said.

The US ambassador to Moscow delivered formal notice of Mr Bush's decision to Russian officials this morning. The brief legal document invokes article 15 of the 29-year-old treaty to give Russia six months' notice of Washington's intentions.

Since before the election, Mr Bush has said the US must "move beyond" the treaty and claimed today that the attacks on Washington and New York made the withdrawal more urgent.

"Today, the events of September 11 made all too clear the greatest threats to both our countries come not from each other or other big powers in the world but from terrorist attacks who strike without warning or rogue states who seek weapons of mass destruction."

The next scheduled step is the beginning of construction next spring of silos and a testing command center near Fairbanks, Alaska.

Washington intends to cooperate with Russia to the extent of informing Moscow of steps being taken to develop the system.

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