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State Dept. Noon Briefing, November 13, 2000

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING
BRIEFER: Philip T. Reeker, Deputy Spokesman
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2000 1:45 P.M.
(ON THE RECORD UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED)

Q: Thank you. I wondered if you had any response to the comments out of Moscow by General Yakovlev suggesting a new flexibility on NMD.

MR. REEKER: Yes, I did see some of those comments today and raised that with some of my colleagues in the building. We read with interest, in fact, President Putin's statement, I guess which was released today in Moscow.

Certainly we share Russia's interest in lower levels of strategic nuclear arms, and we want to proceed in a manner that allows us to address new threats, something we have discussed for some time. As you know, we have been working together with the Russians, and so far we have developed in just recent months a series of initiatives, including the Joint Statement on Principles of Strategic Stability, which was agreed upon and signed June 4th of this year in Moscow, and the Joint Statement on Cooperation and Strategic Stability from July 21st out of Okinawa when the two presidents met, as well as a joint statement and implementation plan referred to as the Strategic Stability Cooperation Initiative from September 6th in New York.

So all of those things go into our review of these issues, and we certainly welcome the continued engagement of the Russians on this. It is a subject we will continue to work on with them.

Q: If I may follow up, I understood it was actually comments by General Yakovlev. Were we talking about two different things, then?

MR. REEKER: As I understood it, what we reviewed was a statement that was actually released by President Putin today, the 13th, which largely restated the Russian position on strategic nuclear arms reductions.

Q: So you're not aware of any comments by General Yakovlev suggesting new flexibility?

MR. REEKER: Those specific comments I hadn't seen. We had seen President Putin's statement and reviewed that.

Q: Well, President Putin's statement does say that the Russians are willing to discuss modifications to the ABM, which seems to be a slight shift from where they were before, saying that this was basically inviolate. And now they're saying that, well, the Treaty itself has provisions built in to review it.

Are you familiar with that part of it?

MR. REEKER: At this point, I don't have anything more specific than what I gave you now in terms of our review of their statement which was released today. As I think I indicated, we certainly share the Russian interest in lower levels of strategic nuclear arms. That is something we have worked on for quite some time now, and we want to proceed in a manner that will also allow us to address new threats. I think that has been fundamental to our policy on this.

Q: The numbers that you are talking about, though, are still based on the Yeltsin-Clinton Helsinki general understandings, right?

MR. REEKER: Yes, they were general understandings of numbers. And as I outlined, there were a series of statements and initiatives that have come out in the last five months or so as part of our process, and obviously we will continue working on that. I just don't have anything more concrete or specific to say in response to those comments from Moscow today. Obviously it is something we will continue to look at as the process goes on.

Q: Let me ask you a policy question. Are you saying the Clinton Administration is ready to negotiate further cutbacks in strategic weapons?

MR. REEKER: I just don't have --

Q: Because I thought the policy was we're not - the US will not negotiate further --

MR. REEKER: Barry, I was asked about these comments - have we seen them, what was our response to them - and that is what I am able to provide you on a cursory review today. But I don't have anything to add for you to anything previously we have said about this.

Q: Well, if I understand what you have said, summarizing it, you share their interest, but the State Department will not say whether the US policy is to proceed with further nuclear weapons cutback negotiations?

MR. REEKER: I just don't have anything further to add for you to what we have said in the past about our policy on that.

(The briefing was concluded at 2:25 P.M.)