MOSCOW, Dec. 15 (UPI) -- Russia hopes the United States will not walk out on other arms control deals after abandoning the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said in a statement released Saturday.
"I hope that Washington will not act in analogy (with the ABM walkout) in regard to other treaties and agreements related to arms control," Ivanov said.
U.S. President George W. Bush Thursday notified the Kremlin that Washington was pulling out of the treaty that Moscow still considers a cornerstone of strategic stability.
According to the treaty, the withdrawing side has to notify its partner about the pullout six months in advance, meaning that the deal will be formally scrapped in June 2002.
Russia strongly opposed the U.S. bid to cancel the ABM deal and build a national missile defense system, but little could be done to save the treaty as numerous rounds of bilateral talks on the issue failed to produce a major breakthrough.
On Thursday, Moscow's response to Bush's notice was negative as political leaders and military officials slammed the decision and President Vladimir Putin called it "erroneous."
The Russian president also called the news from Washington "predictable," while his adviser on strategic stability, Russia's ex-Defense Minister Igor Sergeyev, played down negative forecasts by saying that "strategic balance will be preserved for at least 10 or 15 years."
"This decision is a political decision that reflects a certain ideology," Ivanov said Saturday.
The principal disagreement on the future of the ABM Treaty has remained one of the few irritants in the U.S.-Russian relations that have been warming since the Sept. 11 terror attacks on the United States.
However, Ivanov welcomed the readiness of the U.S. administration "to start immediately talks on radical cuts in offensive strategic weapons."
"That is a good opportunity to demonstrate dedication to the principles of strategic stability," the minister said.
Washington has proposed to cut down the number of nuclear warheads in the range between 1,700 and 2,200 pieces, while Moscow suggested lowering that threshold to 1,500 pieces.
Ivanov reiterated that Moscow was ready to "establish appropriate contacts, hold talks and conduct dialogue on the whole range of issues related to preservation and strengthening of the global strategic stability."
Meanwhile Saturday, a Russian lawmaker said he could not rule out that Moscow would withdraw from the START-II arms reduction treaty in response to the U.S. walkout on the ABM deal.
"Russia is entitled to such a right in compliance with the documents ratifying the ABM Treaty," Mikhail Margelov, the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee in Russia's upper house of parliament.
According to Margelov, Russia's potential withdrawal from the START-II could become the "most effective and most pragmatic way of maintaining our security at the required level."
However, Margelov added that such a move was not expedient under current circumstances advising no haste on the matter.
