Washington Postpones European ABM Plans

[Purveyor]

MOSCOW. (Nikita Petrov, for RIA Novosti) - The Czech government has suspended the ratification of its agreement with the United States on the deployment of a missile tracking radar.

Some military analysts link this decision with the changes in the new U.S. administration's attitude to the plans to deploy anti-ballistic missile systems in Eastern Europe. Barack Obama said during his election campaign that the efficiency of the system should be scrutinized. When he was elected president, he said he might put off the ABM plans for Europe or bury the idea, especially if Russia would help convince Iran to suspend its nuclear weapons program.

However, all is not as simple as it seems. Nearly half of Czechs protested against the ratification of the ABM agreement with the U.S. Now that a coalition of opposition parties has been formed in the Czech parliament, the Topolanek government is not prepared to risk the agreements with Washington.

However, postponing ratification does not mean cancelling it.

The situation can be seriously influenced by the upcoming talks between the U.S. and Russian presidents during the G20 summit in London in early April. After that, President Obama is expected to visit Russia. These talks may put the European ABM on hold for a very long time, if not bury the idea altogether.

There have been some promising statements.

In particular, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said at a recent Munich security conference that it is time to "press the reset button" on U.S.-Russia relations. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov supported the idea during their recent meeting in Geneva.

Another indicator is the working group on U.S.-Russian relations, made up of former officials in both governments and co-chaired by former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and former Foreign Minister Yevgeny Primakov. The group has recently finished talks ahead of the presidential meeting in London and has met with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.

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RIA NOVOSTI: http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20090324/120708525.html