Russia, U.S. to sign military cooperation, Afghan transit deals

MOSCOW, July 3 (RIA Novosti) - Russia and the U.S. will sign deals expanding bilateral military ties and on transit of military supplies via Russia to U.S. troops in Afghanistan during the U.S. president's visit to Moscow, a Kremlin aide said.

The first agreement during Barack Obama's visit will reflect "the political decision on the resumption of full-scale military contacts between Russia and the United States," which had been frozen following a brief war between Russia and Georgia over South Ossetia last year, Sergei Prikhodko said on Friday.

The draft document was finalized during the recent visit of the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Michael Mullen, to Moscow.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Obama will also sign in Moscow an agreement on the transit of military and other supplies to the U.S. troops deployed in Afghanistan.

"The deal includes air and land transit, although air transit will be the priority," Sergei Prikhodko said, adding that Washington had not requested the transit of military personnel.

Russia already has bilateral transit deals with Germany, France and Spain, and has also signed an agreement with NATO in 2008 on rail transit of non-lethal supplies to Afghanistan.

The U.S.-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) has about 62,000 troops in Afghanistan under a UN mandate to give security support to the Afghan government and stop the flow of drugs from the country.

President Obama has recently pledged to increase U.S. military personnel numbers sent to the war-ravaged country.

Despite the recent deterioration of relations with U.S. and NATO, Russia continues to support the military alliance's operations in Afghanistan, and has said it shares NATO's concerns over the worsening security situation in the country.

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Kremlin confirms Russia, U.S. to sign framework arms control deal

MOSCOW, July 3 (RIA Novosti) - The Kremlin confirmed on Friday that the Russian and U.S. presidents would sign a key framework arms control agreement during President Barack Obama's visit next week.

"This will be a framework document setting out guidelines for further work on the draft treaty to replace the START 1 pact," presidential aide Sergei Prikhodko told reporters.

Prikhodko said Moscow hoped a new treaty regulating the number of long-range nuclear weapons would be signed early next year, but that its contents must not be sacrificed for the sake of a date. The current Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty was signed before the Soviet Union's breakup in 1991, and expires in December this year.

Prikhodko did not specify figures on reductions in nuclear warheads and delivery vehicles to be included in the document, reiterating that Russia was committed to "considerable, verifiable" cuts.

The Russian business daily Kommersant said on Friday that Washington has proposed cuts to a maximum of 1,500-1,600 operational warheads and 1,100 delivery vehicles for each side. Moscow initially agreed to the figures, but differences have arisen in discussions ahead of the visit, the paper said.

The paper said Russia's military warned against reducing warheads below 1,700, and Moscow linked the cuts to Washington's missile defense plans for Europe.

President Obama has shown less interest in his predecessor's plans to open a missile interceptor base in Poland and a radar station in the Czech Republic, which Moscow has fiercely opposed as a security threat.

Obama has not yet announced a final decision on whether to move ahead with the deployment. The George W. Bush administration had said the missile defense shield elements were to counter possible strikes from "rogue" states, and not aimed against Russia.

Prikhodko reiterated on Friday that Moscow wanted the new arms reduction document to contain a ban on the deployment of missiles outside the signatories' sovereign territories.

"In any case, our concerns regarding the third [missile shield] site in Europe should be addressed," he said. "Such plans will negatively affect strategic stability and predictability," he added.

Obama and Dmitry Medvedev pledged to sign a new strategic arms treaty at their first meeting in London in April, when they also vowed to "reset" bilateral ties, which had plunged to a new Cold War low under the previous U.S. administration.

Source: RIA Novosti

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