Russia and the United States have probably found the way out of the deadlock on the missile defence system. A breakthrough may be achieved through the exchange of the political declarations between the presidents of the two countries, the Kommersant daily learnt. These political declarations should fix the intentions of Russia and the United States to cooperate in the missile defence system and not to use their military potentials against each other. The fulfilment of these plans will lift the main irritating factor in the relations between Russia and the US at least during Barack Obama’s presidency.
A meeting between Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and newly appointed US Secretary of State John Kerry in Berlin on Tuesday may become a breakthrough for deadlocked Russian-US missile defence negotiations. The countries cannot find a compromise in this problem already for more than two years that deteriorates bilateral relations in all spheres.
In the current situation the exchange of political declarations at the top level on the principles of cooperation in the missile defence sphere may become a way out from the deadlock, the Kommersant daily reported. To sign this document President Barack Obama should not compulsorily request for an approval of the US Congress. In the US there is the form of international relations, which does not require the ratification by the lawmakers. This is the so-called presidential executive agreements. In 1937 the US Supreme Court ruled that these agreements have the same effect as the international agreements, which the US Senate approved.
In this case Russian President Vladimir Putin will only sign a memorandum on understanding with the similar content to the US text of the document. Both documents are expected to outline bilateral intentions to cooperate in the missile defence sphere and not to use their military potentials against each other. The document can also fix concrete measures to build up trust, particularly the mechanisms of mutual notifications and the information exchange, joint military exercises and the assessments of the threats. Diplomatic sources from both sides confirmed to the Kommersant daily the fact that the countries began to discuss an opportunity to draft these documents.
“This agreement is needed to us and the US,” deputy director of the Institute of US and Canadian Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences Viktor Kremenyuk explained. “The US understands that if they create their missile defence system without our approval, we will find the ways to retaliate to them, creating conditions, under which their system can be mainly void of sense. On our part, there is also some understanding that a compromise is needed,” he underlined.