The US remained on Tuesday reluctant to make direct judgment on
Russia's proposal last week for joint use of a radar station that
Russia controls in Azerbaijan as a means of countering missile
threats.
"What we now have is a basis of conversation," White House
spokesman Tony Snow told reporters when asked whether Washington
was considering Moscow's offer.
"The implication before the G8 was that Russia was adamantly
opposed to any kind of (missile) defense. It turns out that it's
not. We look at that as a constructive step forward."
Snow denied the saying that the White House was playing
"gamesmanship" as it weighed Russia's proposal, noting President
George W. Bush and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin are due
to discuss the matter at the Bush family estate in Kennebunkport,
Maine, on July 1-2.
On June 7, Bush held talks with Putin when the two leaders were
attending the Group of Eight (G8) summit in Heiligendamm, Germany.
Putin promised Bush that Moscow would not oppose a US plan of a
radar-based missile defense system in Europe if it was deployed in
Azerbaijan instead of Central Europe.
The Bush administration has so far withheld judgment on Putin's
offer, saying it needs time to study it and consult with
allies.
Russia is angered at the US plan to deploy missile interceptors
in Poland and radar units in the Czech Republic as part of a
project to extend the missile defense system in Europe.
The US insists that the deployment of the system is aimed at
preventing attacks from rogue states, not Russia.
(Xinhua News Agency June 13, 2007)
