Subject: Correction to May 6 Interfax piece (Item #33 in List 2008 #88) [re: Ambassador Burns, Missile Defense]
Date: Wed, 7 May 2008
From: "Horst, Elizabeth K \(Moscow\)" <HorstEK@state.gov>
Dear David Johnson,
I wanted to draw your attention to an error in the May 6 interfax piece quoting Ambassador Burns’s interview with Ekho Moscvy. The last sentence should read:
Burns announced that a discussion has been planned on when and how interceptors will be deployed when a real threat of missile attack emerges from Iran.
Both Interfax and Ekho have pulled the incorrect information from their websites. The actual question and response were the following:
VENEDIKTOV: Today a U.S. delegation will be in Warsaw to discuss missile defense. This is another area of difference between us, however the Kremlin told us that there were some proposals made by the United States to alleviate some Russian concerns and to offer some transparency. Would you comment on the proposals that were made by the United States?
AMBASSADOR BURNS: I would be glad to comment on this in general. We know that Russia continues to have objections to our plans with the Poles and the Czechs, but we have worked hard together the United States and Russia in recent months to try to address those concerns; both to try to provide reassurance about what those programs would involve and also to keep the door open to broader cooperation on missile defense between Russia, the United States, and Europe in the years ahead. The kinds of transparency and confidence building measures we proposed include the following: it would include the ongoing work of liaison officers at sites in Poland and the Czech Republic, it would include technical measures that would provide some reassurance about activities at those sites, it could include a discussion about when to actually deploy interceptors and to try to connect that to the actual emergence of long-range missile capabilities that might threaten us from Iran or from other states. Such steps obviously are subject to the agreement of the host countries Poland and the Czech Republic. There are obviously a lot of details to be worked out and it is a complicated process. But I think it is possible to reach an understanding which would at least help ease some of Russia’s concerns.
Thank you for your attention to this.
Best regards,
Melissa Russell
Press Attaché
U.S. Embassy Moscow, Russia