MOSCOW. Aug 7 (Interfax) - Moscow does not expect any progress in negotiations with the United States on missile defense in the near future, and Moscow and Washington's positions on the matter are too far away from each other so far, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said.
"I cannot say that we are on the verge of some breakthrough or dramatic shift in resolving the remaining complicated aspects in both the missile defense area and in other components of arms control. I do not have grounds for this," Ryabkov told Interfax.
Asked whether Russia is satisfied with the U.S. proposals on missile defense, Ryabkov said he had discussed the issue with U.S. Acting Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Rose Gottemoeller in Brussels on August 5. "We once again sent a signal that the U.S. proposals made in spring this year look interesting to us. This is a step in the right direction, but they are categorically insufficient so that a compromise could be reached on their basis," Ryabkov said.
The U.S. proposals "lack a key element enabling us to judge with a guarantee that all statements that the U.S. [missile defense] system is not targeted against Russia and will not undermine the Russian nuclear deterrence potential are true," he said.