27.07.2012
As is reported by “Kommersant” which cites unnamed sources, the U.S.A. had invited a delegation of the Defense Ministry of the Russian Federation to test some elements of the anti-ballistic missile system (ABMS) in the Kwajalein atoll in the Pacific Ocean, but then withdrew its invitation.
The publication doesn’t specify the date when the Russian party received the invitation from the State Department and Pentagon. Sending it, U.S. had expected to convince Moscow that its anti-ballistic missile system doesn’t aim at Russia. However, the invitation, according to the newspaper, had been given in oral form only. Moscow has been considering the invitation for a long time, but now the latter is no longer in effect. According to “Kommersant”, it was the Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency that insisted on the withdrawal of the invitation and criticized the Department of State for being too open (the polygon named after former U.S. President Reagan in the Kwajalein Atoll is considered one of the most classified facilities of the U.S. Department of Defense).
A source in the Russian Defense Ministry told the newspaper that the Russian party does not see much sense in such trips. “Their laws prohibit transmitting telemetry data,” said the publication’s companion. “So, to go their in order to watch through binoculars as the rocket takes off makes no sense”. Previously, for the same reasons the representatives of the Russian military department refused to accept an official invitation from the U.S.A. to visit the headquarters of the Missile Defense Agency in Colorado Springs, as well as tests of missile defense radars and antimissiles on the Hawaiian Islands.
Moscow fears that the creation of a new American ABMS will disrupt the balance of nuclear forces between the two countries. Russia proposed the U.S.A. to create a joint ABMS or provide a written guarantee which confirms that American ABMS doesn’t aim at Russia. However, Washington rejected these proposals. In June 2012 Russian and U.S. presidents Vladimir Putin and Barack Obama made a joint statement in which they stressed that both of them intend to continue the dialogue on missile defense. In late March at the meeting with then Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Barack Obama said that after the presidential elections in the United States which are scheduled for November 6th, he will be able to show more flexibility re missile defense issue.
