Washington signals flexibility to Moscow in arms talks

Assistant Secretary of State Rose Gottemoeller, formerly of the Ploughshares-funded Carnegie Endowment, said the U.S. was willing to agree to count both nuclear warheads and their delivery vehicles when renegotiating the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) —one of Russia’s longstanding concerns. Gottemoeller also said the U.S. was open to a Russian proposal to use radars based in Azerbaijan or Southern Russia, rather than Eastern Europe, for the proposed missile defense system. The comments are “more in Moscow’s favor,” said Peter Crail of the Ploughshares-funded Arms Control Association, adding, “That doesn’t mean there aren’t going to still be some pretty hairy issues to deal with. It’s certainly a bit of a move in their direction.”