Moscow Provides Few Details on BMD Proposal

Russia offered little additional detail on its proposed pan-European missile defense during an April 26 meeting of the NATO-Russia Permanent Joint Council at NATO headquarters in Brussels. All 19 NATO ambassadors and NATO Secretary-General George Robertson attended, along with former Russian Defense Minister, now presidential assistant, Igor Sergeyev, who headed the Russian delegation. The meeting marked the first time the two sides discussed the issue since Moscow presented Robertson with an initial, vague proposal in late February. (See ACT, March 2001.)

At the meeting, the Russian side concentrated on the "conceptual and procedural rather than the technical or hardware," according to a NATO spokesperson. Russian officials since February have said that, before talking about the means to counter the threat from missile proliferation, including missile defense, there must first be discussions on whether a threat exists.

Basic elements of the Russian proposal remain unclear, such as whether Moscow envisions a missile defense system capable of intercepting ballistic missiles in their boost, mid-course, or re-entry phase. Moscow has been very clear, however, that the proposed system would be designed to intercept short- and medium-range theater ballistic missiles and not long-range strategic ballistic missiles. Russia staunchly opposes U.S. proposals to build a system providing nationwide or global defenses against strategic ballistic missiles, which would violate the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.