MOSCOW, June 21 (Itar-Tass) - Russian President Vladimir Putin does not expect any changes in the US policy for the creation of a missile defence system after the presidential elections in the United States. Meanwhile, Moscow is ready for cooperation over missile defence in the Russia-the US-Europe triangle and sees the way to lift disagreements. The Russian president has made a statement to this effect at a press conference after the G20 summit in Los Cabos. Putin also dwelt on other issues.
Putin was asked at a press conference after the G20 summit in Los Cabos no fewer questions about bilateral meetings with the summiteers than on the common debates, the Nezavisimaya Gazeta daily noted. Meanwhile, the journalists were primarily interested in the content of the meeting between the Russian leader and US President Barack Obama and Putin’s assessment of Russian-US relations. In reply to a question whether Putin hopes to attain some changes in the US policy over missile defence if Obama is re-elected, he said, “I believe that the missile defence problem will be settled regardless Obama is re-elected or not. The US has been going on the path for the creation of its own missile defence system already for several years. I do not see anything that could change their position.”
Meanwhile, Putin confirmed that Russia is ready to find a formula of cooperation in this sphere. He offered to pool the efforts of Russia, the US and Europe. “I believe that the situation could be changed cardinally only if the US agreed with our initiative that we – Russia, the US and Europe would be full-fledged participants in this process,” the Russian president noted.
In this case “all three participants in this process would create jointly this system, would have a joint opportunity to assess external threats, could control this system jointly and could take decisions for its operation. Less ambitious decisions are not ruled out. “This does not mean that we cannot agree on some aspects of this common work,” Putin pointed out.
Commenting on Putin’s statement, Deputy Director of the Institute of the United States and Canada Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences Viktor Kremenyuk, who is quoted by the newspaper, noted Putin’s intentions to find an approach, which will be more flexible than before to the missile defence problem. “The so-called point of return was already passed in the creation of the missile defence system. NATO has taken relevant decisions, proper allocations were made, the creation of the missile defence system is in full swing that no one can stop,” the expert noted.
The meeting between Obama and Putin that was the first one after Putin’s election for a new term of Russian presidency was mostly devoted to the synchronization of positions and the debates on missile defence and could not be detailed. But it is already clear that Moscow intends to modify its position, facing the US refusal to discuss the previous Russian initiative on the sector-type missile defence system.
Putin has achieved his result at the G20 summit, the Moskovsky Komsomolets daily reported. After Putin was speaking about the anti-Russian Magnitsky bill at a meeting with Barack Obama on June 18 the US Congress, which was to debate the bill on June 19, lifted it from the agenda. Meanwhile, the US presidential administration has made a statement for the need to separate the Magnitsky bill from the Jackson-Vanik amendment, on which Russian diplomats insisted.
The Russian president confirmed that the country is ready to allocate up to ten billion dollars for the International Monetary Fund (IMF) from the international reserves of the Bank of Russia, the Kommersant daily noted. But a reform of the IMF management should follow the growth in the IMF resource base. The 2010 reform should be finalized and then the formula of calculating quotas and votes in the IMF should be revised. This measure will make the IMF much more legitimate. This statement would be considered absurd and void of any sense just a few years ago, when Russia owed to the IMF much more that the country is ready to give to the fund now, the newspaper noted.
Russia, which took over the G20 presidency, intends to initiate the review of all decisions, which were taken in the G20 format, the Vedomosti daily quoted Putin’s statement at a press conference. “The issues, which were raised in Los Cabos, will certainly be developed during Russian rotating presidency in the G20,” the Russian leader noted.
Putin emphasized that Russia will keep the continuity in the work of the forum, focusing on the debates over the problems, for the settlement of which the Group of Twenty was created. “The reform of the international currency and financial system should be continued, international financial institutions should be built up, the transformations in the regulation of international financial markets should be continued,” Putin said. “We will also continue the debates on such non-financial issues, as energy and climate, world trade and the promotion of development,” he noted.
Putin stated that the agenda of a next G20 summit, which will be held in St. Petersburg in the autumn of 2013, will be formed from the scenarios of development of the world economy and the situation in international finances. “But I can say already today that we will review all commitments, which the G20 assumed before,” the Russian president underlined.