Specific talks with Washington on strategic arms reduction and the anti-ballistic missile treaty which the US wishes to abolish can start no earlier than the end of the year, Russian officials said Saturday.
"Specific talks with Washington on START and ABM issues can be started no earlier than the end of this year," Interfax quoted Russian foreign ministry sources as saying.
Their comments came as US Under Secretary of State John Bolton, head of the State Department's arms control and international security department, arrived in the capital for negotiations on the divisive issue.
Moscow opposes the US project of a missile defense shield, and hopes to preserve the ABM treaty, which bars construction of such shields, and which Moscow considers vital to global stability.
But the Russian officials were quoted as stressing: "Moscow's position is not confrontational, and we, as partners, should wait for the US to be able to say something."
Bolton was scheduled to meet Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Georgy Mamedov on Tuesday and Wednesday to discuss the thorny topic.
But sources said that Moscow "does not expect the talks to bring fundamental change," in dialogue with Washington.
"The Americans so far have nothing concrete to say except for the statements that the US and Russia are not enemies any more," the sources said.
"The US side has so far not been able to explain to us... what it is they do not like about the current system of strategic stability, about the ABM Treaty, and also what reduction of strategic offensive arms they are thinking about in Washington," they added.
Washington had not yet completed its strategic overview of the concept of US policy on strategic stability and would need another two to three months to do so, they said. US President George W. Bush would be able to make judgments and recommendations no earlier than the end of the year.
Bolton's arrival here comes days after US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Washington was ready to withdraw from the 1972 Moscow-Washington ABM anti-ballistic missile accord even before it reached a compromise with Russia on missile defense.
It was not immediately clear whether Rumsfeld's comment was meant as a signal that Washington was considering de-coupling the issues of missile defense and strategic arms reductions that the US and Russian presidents agreed to link at their meeting last month.
The Pentagon has adopted a more hawkish stance on missile negotiations with Russia than the State Department.
The Kremlin is also seeking an agreement to slash both sides' nuclear arsenals to 1,500 warheads, an idea which Washington says the United States is not yet ready to accept.
Russian foreign ministry officials said last Thursday all negotiations on the issue held so far had been futile, adding they expected no serious discussion on the matter until next year -- MOSCOW (AFP)
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