Critics wonder whether Russia concedes too much in arms control deal
By Philip P. Pan
Washington Post Foreign Service
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
MOSCOW -- As President Obama prepares to sign a landmark arms control treaty with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, a chorus of skeptics here is quietly expressing concerns that Moscow has conceded too much in the deal.
The concerns, fueled by lingering suspicions and anxieties about the vast superiority of U.S. conventional forces, will do little to interfere with the signing of the new treaty in Prague on Thursday. But they will make further progress toward Obama's goal of a world without nuclear weapons extremely difficult.
In a sign of the Kremlin's own unease about how the treaty will be received in Russia, neither Medvedev nor Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has uttered a word in public about it, even as Obama called a news conference to celebrate the conclusion of the talks and followed up this week by unveiling the findings of his administration's review of U.S. nuclear weapons policy.
Criticism of the new treaty has focused on its failure to set any limits on U.S. plans to build a European missile defense shield -- long a point of friction with Russia -- as well as a change in rules that will make it easier for the Pentagon to keep nuclear warheads in storage and quickly rebuild the U.S. arsenal if necessary. Others have delivered an even broader critique, questioning whether the entire post-Cold War enterprise of nuclear disarmament, including the expired 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, has served Russia's interests.
(More here.)
Washington Post Foreign Service
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
MOSCOW -- As President Obama prepares to sign a landmark arms control treaty with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, a chorus of skeptics here is quietly expressing concerns that Moscow has conceded too much in the deal.
The concerns, fueled by lingering suspicions and anxieties about the vast superiority of U.S. conventional forces, will do little to interfere with the signing of the new treaty in Prague on Thursday. But they will make further progress toward Obama's goal of a world without nuclear weapons extremely difficult.
In a sign of the Kremlin's own unease about how the treaty will be received in Russia, neither Medvedev nor Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has uttered a word in public about it, even as Obama called a news conference to celebrate the conclusion of the talks and followed up this week by unveiling the findings of his administration's review of U.S. nuclear weapons policy.
Criticism of the new treaty has focused on its failure to set any limits on U.S. plans to build a European missile defense shield -- long a point of friction with Russia -- as well as a change in rules that will make it easier for the Pentagon to keep nuclear warheads in storage and quickly rebuild the U.S. arsenal if necessary. Others have delivered an even broader critique, questioning whether the entire post-Cold War enterprise of nuclear disarmament, including the expired 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, has served Russia's interests.
(More here.)
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