CIAO DATE: 07/03

The Nuclear Dimension of U.S.-Russian Relations: Missile Defense, Arms Control and 'Loose Nukes'

Introduction

The United States and Russia are entering an important stage following the Presidential summit of May 2002. Since Presidents Bush and Putin first started getting to know one another last year, they have been declaring the onset of a fundamentally new relationship, based on a new framework for strategic cooperation. Both leaders have declared that the Cold War is over and that our two countries can exist as friends.

The period running up to the May summit was nevertheless preparatory in nature, with many questions about what the new relationship would comprise. The run-up contained several important steps, not only the many meetings and telephone calls between the Presidents, but also the close relationships established between their top ministers. Secretary of State Colin Powell, for example, in his July 9 testimony on the new strategic arms control treaty, noted that he talks by phone to his counterpart, Minister of Foreign Affairs Igor Ivanov, at least three times a week.

But most important to the preparatory period was the decision that President Putin made following the September 11 attacks to fully support the United States in the counterterrorism struggle. In doing so, he went against the flow of Russian elite opinion and encountered some resistance among military and political leaders. His great popularity with the public enabled him to survive this dissent, however, and proceed quickly to assisting the United States in ways that would have been unheard of but a year ago. The extensive intelligence support that Russia has provided the United States in its war in Afghanistan is a good example of this assistance.

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