20 May 2004 03:38
Bolton Flies In to Discuss Security
U.S. Undersecretary of State John Bolton was to arrive in Moscow on Wednesday evening to discuss a wide range of
security and nonproliferation issues ahead of a meeting between Presidents George W. Bush and Vladimir Putin next
month.
Bolton will meet with officials of the Foreign Ministry, Energy and Industry Ministry, Federal Space Agency and
Federal Nuclear Power Agency to discuss nonproliferation issues, including Iran's nuclear program and Bush's
Proliferation Security Initiative, a U.S. Embassy official said Wednesday.
The official said the bulk of the meetings were set for Thursday, but did not elaborate.
A Foreign Ministry spokesman declined to comment on Bolton's visit, and calls to the Federal Space Agency and
Federal Nuclear Power Agency went unanswered Wednesday.
Bolton's visit comes three days after U.S. National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice completed a trip to Moscow
during which she also discussed nonproliferation issues. She met with Putin and other senior Russian officials.
A senior U.S. diplomat told reporters Sunday that Russian officials reaffirmed to Rice the country's
"greater" interest in the PSI but said they have not decided whether to sign on to the initiative, which
provides for the interdiction of weapons of mass destruction on the ground, in the air and at sea.
Bush and Putin will discuss the PSI on the sidelines of the next G-8 summit, from June 8 to 10 on Sea Island,
Georgia, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters during a visit to the United States last week. The two presidents
will also meet during celebrations commemorating the 60th anniversary of D-Day in France on June 6.
"We expect that the meeting on Sea Island will [generate] an additional agreement in the sphere of struggle
against terrorism and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction," Lavrov said at a meeting of G-8 foreign
ministers on May 15.
Russian officials initially expressed reservations about the PSI, which Bush announced in May 2003, but have
gradually become more supportive in recent months.
.TX-..**********************************************
[The Moscow Times] |
RUSSIA IN FACTS
