quote:

First of all. Getting into a war with China alone will mess us up. China has over 1 million active land troops. So land battles will be a negative. Plus China has a very good air defense system and a decent Navy.

Second of all. Russia would be a great ally to have. Two superpowers of the world working together would mean that nobody would mess with us or Russia. I like Russia. It is a very strong country with very many opportunities. It has Oil, minerals, and lots of space to grow crops which can be sold internationaly to make money. In fact i was watching a show on Russia the other day and it said that Russia has very many minerals underground.If Russia extracted them then it will mean good new for their economy. Russia can do what it wants. Obviously the United States didnt do anything about the Jets, helicopters, and weopons that were sold to venezuela. Russia is a country based on its Military and its strive to be the strongest.

Agreed, We cannot allow Russia and China to be enemies. We are already in for hell if we have fight China off their own coast against taiwan. TO have Russia continuously supplying them top notch military equipment like Su-30's, SAM's, IL-76's, IL-78 tankers etc. is bad news.

We should be buying Russian military equipment, at least then maybe we can get value for our dollar instead having to cancel or severly curtail all of our domestic programs due to cost and government mismangement. Imagine if we could dump the C-5 maintenance nightmare for some An-124's or buy some Su-30's to complement our measly 183 F-22's.

Wow...just surfing around and stumbled upon this 'news'...guess the mainstream media chose not to report on it. No longer 'sensational' enough now that the Cold War is over???



NORAD Intercepts Russian Tu-95 Bears Off Alaska

(Source: Canadian Department of National Defence; issued Sept. 29, 2006)

WINNIPEG, MAN. --– North American Aerospace Defense Command launched three pairs of fighters Thursday evening from the command's Canadian NORAD Region (CANR) and the Alaskan NORAD Region (ANR) in response to Russian aircraft that penetrated North America’s Air Defense Identification Zone, according to NORAD officials.

“While the Russian air assets at no time violated Canadian or U.S. airspace, integrated air defense assets in and around CANR and ANR were able to detect, intercept and identify a number of the Russian Tu-95 Bear heavy bombers participating in an annual Russian air force exercise near the coast of Alaska and Canada,” said Maj. Gen. Brett Cairns, NORAD director of operations. “F-15s launched out of ANR intercepted the bombers off the west coast of Alaska. CF-18 fighters also launched out of CANR, but did not intercept any of the bombers,” said Cairns.

NORAD is a bi-national Canadian and United States organization charged with the missions of aerospace warning and aerospace control for North America. Aerospace warning includes the monitoring of man-made objects in space, and the detection, validation, and warning of attack against North America whether by aircraft, missiles, or space vehicles, utilizing mutual support arrangements with other commands. Aerospace control includes ensuring air sovereignty and air defense of the airspace of Canada and the United States.

While this response to the Russian bombers shows how NORAD continues to monitor the air approaches to North America, NORAD’s mission also focuses on airspace within North America. Since Sept. 11, 2001, NORAD has scrambled or diverted more than 2,200 times to execute its aerospace control mission for North America.

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A US Air Force F-15 escorting a Russian air force Tu-95 Bear long-range bomber off the Alaskan coast. (Canadian Department of National Defence photo)

U.S. Helps Russia Secure 50 Nuclear Sites Against Theft, Attack

(Source: US State Department; issued Oct. 27, 2006)

WASHINGTON --- The United States has helped Russia secure 50 of its naval nuclear sites against the threat of theft or terrorist attack in an effort to protect them against nuclear weapons proliferation.

"Denying terrorists access to nuclear material is our top priority. These upgrades to Russian navy sites make it that much harder for terrorists to get their hands on dangerous nuclear material," said Linton Brooks, who heads the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA).

According to an October 24 press release from the NNSA, the agency’s personnel worked with the Moscow-based Kurchatov Institute and the Russian Ministry of Defense to install intrusion-detection sensors, access controls and hardened defensive positions at the naval sites.

"We are also working closely with Russia to ensure that the upgrades we provide are sustained and maintained. Just last year, the Kola Technical Center was opened to train Russian guard forces and provide the technical infrastructure needed to make certain the upgrades are effective for the long term," said Brooks.

The work at the naval sites is part of a larger joint project the NNSA is conducting with Russia to secure and eliminate vulnerable nuclear weapons and weapons-usable material and to install radiation detection equipment at ports and border crossings that might be used to transfer nuclear material.

Russia: The Enemy

Allan Topol | November 03, 2006
link

There was a glorious time when the Berlin Wall came down and Russia seemed headed toward democracy. At long last, the Cold War was over. All things seemed possible.

Thanks first to Boris Yeltsin and now Vladimir Putin, those happy days are in the distant past. So far back we can barely remember our optimism. Democracy is as dead in Russia as the hundreds of thousands who perished at Stalingrad and elsewhere in the Second World War. In its place has come a new autocracy that -- minus the communist rhetoric -- slams the doors of freedom shut all the same.

Those who dare to challenge Putin end up being arrested and put on trial if they’re lucky. If not, they are summarily executed and their killing is dressed up as a robbery attempt. This isn’t to say that there isn’t serious street crime in Russia -- there is. This crime provides a useful cover for those whom the Putin regime wishes to execute.

Notions of a free press or free elections have vanished in the cold Siberian wind of last winter. One difference is that the Russian military has not been restored to anything like its previous power. Putin is a clever man. He doesn’t want to run the risk of having a powerful military which could wrest control of the Kremlin from him.
While the new autocracy is assuming control, Russia as a nation is ailing. It seems absolutely inconceivable that the life expectancy for men in Russia today is only 59 years. Life is so wonderful in post-Soviet Russia that deaths from alcohol are sweeping the country. Those who study population trends love to draw graphs with straight lines through data. Doing that with the Russian male population would lead to the conclusion that within fifty years there won’t be any men left in Russia.

It would be bad enough if the Putin were simply destroying Russian society and its population. However, the damage is not merely domestic. A new threat has emerged to the United States.

I wondered long ago why it was that the bad people are the ones who end up having all the oil and natural gas. Well, here we go again. The Russians have huge reservoirs of both oil and gas. With the high price of energy, petro dollars have been flowing into Russia like water over Niagara Falls.

Those petro dollars are being recycled into arms. In 2005 Russia surpassed the United States as the leader in weapons deals with the developing world. Russia’s weapons deals totaled seven billion dollars in 2005, surpassing the United States for the first time since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Even more troublesome, Russia sold $700,000 in surface-to-air missiles to Iran and eight new aerial refueling tankers to China, according to a new congressional study.

The arms sales to Iran deeply concern those in the Bush administration trying to negotiate with Tehran over its nuclear weapons. What they do is diminish the threat to Iran of an American military strike. Emboldened with their new arms, the ruling mullahs can take much more of a hard line with the Bush administration. Should we resort to a military strike against Iranian nuclear installations, we would risk substantial losses. Thanks a lot Mr. Putin.

The sales to China likewise have a serious impact for Pentagon planners. Taiwan is still an open issue that could flare into a military confrontation with Beijing at any time. The impact of the refueling tankers is to permit the Chinese attack planes and bombers to fly further from Chinese soil, thereby requiring the United States military to operate farther out to sea in dealing with a crisis in the Taiwan Strait.

Given this confrontational attitude in the Kremlin, it is unrealistic to think that Russia will be helpful in negotiations with North Korea or Iran. In fact, given the huge volume of business which the Russians are doing with Tehran, they will have every incentive to continue to curry favor with the Iranians by impeding the U.S. efforts to block Iran’s development of nuclear weapons. This makes resort to the United Nations a hopeless endeavor. Likewise, international pressure is doomed to fail. The Iranians can be confident that Russia will block any United States effort.

A new era has in fact dawned in American-Russian relations. This one promises to be no better than the Cold War.

Russia-U.S. trade deal moves WTO bid ahead

By Alex Nicholson
Associated Press
Published November 19, 2006
subscriber link

HANOI -- Russia and the U.S. signed a key trade agreement on the sidelines of a meeting of Pacific Rim leaders Sunday -- a major economic milestone that paves the way for Russia's entry into the World Trade Organization.

As the largest economy still outside the 149-member WTO, which sets the rules for global trade, the deal with the U.S. is a powerful vote of confidence in Russia's investment climate.

It also marks a bright spot in the two countries' relations that have been marred by disagreements over Iran's controversial nuclear program and Washington's fears of a rollback of democratic freedoms under Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"I am very pleased to be here to celebrate this very important milestone as Russia moves one important step closer to becoming a member of the WTO," said Susan Schwab, the U.S. Trade Representative. "Russia belongs as a full-fledged member of the WTO."

Membership in the WTO would mean Russia, a big oil and gas exporter, would receive the same favorable tariff rates for its products as other members. Also, Russia and other member countries would have to follow WTO rules in trade disputes.

In theory, freer trade would give Russian companies more opportunities to sell their goods on world markets. Joining the WTO also might make its sizable market of potential customers even more attractive to companies in the U.S. and elsewhere.

Russia's top trade official, German Gref, and U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab inked the deal in Hanoi on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, just hours before Putin and President Bush were due to hold talks.

The deal had been widely anticipated. On Nov. 10, both sides announced that all the main questions had been settled and all that remained was for a few technical questions to be nailed down.

On Saturday, Gref said that the signing would mark the end of a "marathon" six-year process of signing bilateral agreements with 57 countries. Next, he said, the two-way deals must be consolidated so that all members trade with the candidate country under the same rules. Gref said he expected that process to be completed by the middle of next year.

Moscow also faces political challenges from Georgia and Moldova, which it has angered by limiting their exports to Russia in moves their leaders say are punishment for their pro-Western politics. Gref said Saturday that he hopes that those problems would also be resolved by mid-2007.

About four months ago, U.S. and Russia appeared on the verge of an agreement. But in a major embarrassment for Moscow, it failed to materialize -- right before the summit of leaders of the world's wealthiest countries that Putin was hosting in St. Petersburg.

Vietnam, hosting the APEC summit, was approved to become the WTO's 150th member earlier this month.

Russia Commissions First Unit of New Mobile ICBMs

(Source: Voice of America news; issued Dec. 4, 2006)

Russia says it is commissioning its first unit of new mobile intercontinental ballistic missiles.

Russia's Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov Monday told Russian television the new version of the Topol-M missile is capable of penetrating multi-layered missile defense systems.

Ivanov said the missiles will form the core of Russia's strategic missile forces. He called them a new generation of the stationary Topol system already in service.

Western analysts say Topol missiles were first deployed in Russian silos in the late 1990s.

The new missiles reportedly can carry a 1,200 kilogram payload and have an estimated range of about 10,000 kilometers. They are said to maneuver in ways that are difficult to detect.

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так, нехуй пиздеть на Россию!

мы невиноваты что к власти пришла шайка преступникв которые позорят страну перед всем мировым сообществом.

Kremlin: Missile shield is a con
Hints icier relations if U.S. network is erected in E. Europe

By Alex Rodriguez
Tribune foreign correspondent
Published January 25, 2007
source link

MOSCOW -- U.S. plans to build an Eastern Europe-based missile defense shield as a bulwark against "rogue" states such as Iran are drawing sharp rebukes from Moscow, which asserts that Russia is the system's real focus and warns that the move will widen the rift in U.S.-Russian relations.

With news that Washington will begin formal talks with the Czech Republic and Poland to deploy the system in those countries, Russian leaders this week launched into a tirade of criticisms and warnings that reflected Moscow's growing mistrust of U.S. foreign policy.

The Bush administration has argued that the shield is needed to defend Europe and the U.S. against a potential attack from Iran or North Korea. While neither country has intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of reaching Europe, the shield is warranted because both could one day develop that capability, U.S. officials say.

Russian leaders derided that logic, insisting the defense shield is meant to target Russia and its vast nuclear arsenal. Russian Col. Gen. Vladimir Popovkin, who commands a division of the Russian army in charge of space technology, said the system could "monitor rocket installations in central Russia and the Northern Fleet. Our analysis shows that the location of the U.S. base would be a clear threat to Russia."

Speaking to reporters Wednesday during a trip to India, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said North Korea and Iran "don't and won't have intercontinental ballistic missiles. So the question becomes, who is it directed against?"

Scheduled for completion by 2011, the shield would be made up of 10 ground-based interceptor missiles based in Poland and a radar station placed in the Czech Republic. If built, it would become Washington's first missile interceptor site in Europe; existing U.S. missile defense sites are in California and Alaska.

U.S. officials say they have kept Moscow updated on the project's progress and have made clear to the Kremlin that Russia is not the shield's focus.

"It's not aimed at Russia," said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack. "It's aimed at those irresponsible states that may possess these technologies that could threaten our friends and allies, that could threaten the United States."

However, Russian leaders view the system as another encroachment on territory once in the Soviet Union's sphere of influence.

Russia: Uranium sting `provocation'

By Mike Eckel
Associated Press
Published January 27, 2007
source link

MOSCOW -- Russia's foreign minister on Friday denounced the detention of a Russian man who allegedly tried to sell highly enriched uranium to Georgian agents, calling it a "provocation."

A government scientist, meanwhile, confirmed that a sample of the uranium sent to Russia was weapons-grade but said it was too small to determine its origin, news agencies reported Friday.

Igor Shkabura, deputy director of the Bochvar Inorganic Materials Institute, said the uranium sent by Georgia "could be used for military productions, including nuclear weapons," according to ITAR-Tass.

It was the first public comment by a named Russian official to claims by Georgia that it arrested and jailed a Russian man last year for trying to sell weapons-grade uranium to an agent posing as a rich foreign buyer.

The reports that emerged Wednesday, confirmed by U.S. officials, renewed concern about security at Russia's array of nuclear facilities. They aggravated already high tensions between Russia and Georgia. Both countries have been at odds for years over the status of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, two renegade regions of Georgia seeking either independence or absorption into Russia.

Georgian officials say their agent made contact with the man selling contraband uranium in South Ossetia, which is widely seen as a regional epicenter for smuggling.

Georgia's Foreign Ministry issued a statement late Thursday saying the uranium sting highlighted the need for international observer missions in both regions, a proposal that Tbilisi has been pushing in recent months. Russia has peacekeepers in both regions, which have been under the control of unrecognized separatist governments since fighting ended in the mid-1990s.

The ministry statement said "Georgia is far from politicizing these questions."

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, meanwhile, criticized the man's detention.

"On the basis of the facts that I have at my disposal, I can say that this was a provocation," Lavrov was quoted by Interfax and RIA-Novosti as saying. "We would prefer that this very problem had been resolved by experts.

The newspaper Moskovsky Komsomolets, one of Russia's most widely circulated, suggested Friday that "Georgia and the United States are playing together against Russia and its allies."

quote:

Originally posted by 10732442:
так, нехуй пиздеть на Россию!

мы невиноваты что к власти пришла шайка преступникв которые позорят страну перед всем мировым сообществом.

ooi ! kakoi milinki malchik, chto ti zdelit zdas? tibet nushzna smatrit "Spokoi Na Nochi Malish" e ne gavirit si rossli ludi!

yestli Rossiya hochich rugayet mi budet ochin rada.

Da ne kashdi Amerikanski chelovek prosto dorak, moshinbet Ruski ludi nushzna pomnish khavo pomigil sehr USSR kagda fascists bil"HIMKI" tolka 30km na krimli. kahvo pomigil? Amerika eta kto!


Sgt Schlappy I salute you, and keep up the good work.


“One man with courage makes a majority.” Andrew Jackson.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: EX31C,

USA won the cold war? lol how?. arrogant nonsense. Noone won, unless u count USSR collpasing on its own with no military force from USA VICTORY? CLEARLY NOT.

quote:

Originally posted by EuropeanUnion:
USA won the cold war? lol how?. arrogant nonsense. Noone won, unless u count USSR collpasing on its own with no military force from USA VICTORY? CLEARLY NOT.

A cold war is not a shooting war thus military force is not used directly against one's enemy. In a cold war the military is used as deterrent in order to keep the other side from deciding to make it hot. So yes technically the U.S did win the cold war since our government was able to continue funding itself, and our military was kept intact while the USSR collapsed due to the strain that it placed upon itself in attempt to compete with the west in military production. USSR lost that is why it is no longer around.

“One man with courage makes a majority.” Andrew Jackson.

Well put EX31C.

quote:

Sgt Schlappy I salute you, and keep up the good work.

Russia Chides U.S. Over Rights Report

By STEVE GUTTERMAN
The Associated Press
Friday, March 9, 2007; 9:35 AM
source link

MOSCOW -- A State Department report that said Russia's human rights record has deteriorated in the past year was criticized by the government on Friday as skewed, confrontational and aimed at furthering American political interests.

The annual report said that as President Vladimir Putin's government has centralized power, it has restricted free speech and that its armed forces killed and abused civilians in and around Chechnya.

In a bitter statement that reflected persistent strains between the Cold War foes, the Foreign Ministry accused Washington of double standards, and suggested the United States was preaching to the world while violating the rights of its own citizens and others across the globe.

quote:

Originally posted by Sgt_Schlappy:
Well put EX31C.

quote:

Sgt Schlappy I salute you, and keep up the good work.

Thanks for the salute Sgt. If you ever need any help with anything Russian just let me know.

btw check out some of my posts on this subject in the Peter Brooks Discussion Area.

“One man with courage makes a majority.” Andrew Jackson.

President of Russian Federation Putin said that "nations are witnessing an almost "uncontained" hyper use of force in international relations". "One state, the United States, has overstepped its national borders in every way." "This is very dangerous. Nobody feels secure anymore because nobody can hide behind international law." "This is nourishing an arms race with the desire of countries to get nuclear weapons."

For more infromation use the following link:

http://www.americanideologicalsociety.com/ais/modules.p...ode=&order=0&thold=0

Putin's comments reek of jealousy.

Spying at Cold War Levels, U.S. Says!

http://www.moscowtimes.ru/stories/2007/03/30/002.html

Spying at Cold War Levels, U.S. Says
Combined Reports
A senior U.S. counterintelligence official said Thursday that Russia had fully restored its espionage capabilities against the United States after a period of decline following the Cold War.

Joel Brenner, the head of the Office of the National Counterintelligence Executive, said the United States was concerned that Russia was continuing to ramp up its operations.

"The Russians are now back at Cold War levels in their efforts against the United States," he said at an event held by the American Bar Association, a lawyers' group. "They are sending over an increasing and troubling number of intelligence agents."

The comments come at time of greater tension between the two countries. President Vladimir Putin has sharply criticized the United States in recent months, and he told Arab leaders in a letter Thursday that Washington should set a time limit for its military presence in Iraq. Also Thursday, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov criticized the United States for conducting naval maneuvers in the Persian Gulf.

Brenner, whose job is to oversee counterintelligence strategy and policy for U.S. intelligence chief Mike McConnell, did not provide details about suspected Russian intelligence operations in the United States. Sensitive counterintelligence activities are classified.

But he said Moscow appeared less interested in U.S. commercial and military technology than other countries, including China, which U.S. officials including China, which U.S. officials have described as the greatest counterintelligence threat facing the United States.

McConnell also warned the U.S. Senate last month that Russia was taking a step backward in its democratic progress and could be heading for a controlled succession to Putin. Moscow responded by describing his remarks as "outdated assumptions."

The U.S. government has suffered several embarrassing security breaches at the hands of Russian and Soviet intelligence moles, including former CIA case officer Aldrich Ames and former FBI agent Robert Hanssen.

Brenner said Ames provided the Soviets with enough information about U.S. officials to "decapitate" America's leadership in the event of war.

But Moscow intelligence does not now appear interested in posing a physical threat to U.S. leaders. "It's not a strike threat they're after. I don't want to give that impression," Brenner said.

Russian officials have expressed frustration at what they see as U.S. foreign policy unrestrained by consultation with other world powers, including Russia. They have criticized the expansion of NATO into the former Soviet sphere of influence and U.S. plans to install radar and interceptors in Eastern Europe as part of a missile defense program.

In turn, U.S. officials have warned that Russia's increased assertiveness in challenging U.S. policy is complicating cooperation on important foreign policy goals, including counterterrorism, nonproliferation and the promotion of democracy in the Middle East.

Both sides have denied that the tension means a return to the Cold War.

The Kremlin said Thursday that Putin had sent a letter to a summit of Arab leaders calling for a time limit on the U.S. military presence in Iraq.

Putin said in the letter to the summit, which opened Wednesday in the Saudi capital, that Russia highly valued "the Arab world's contribution to building a just, multipolar world order and political and diplomatic settlement of crises."

In what sounded like a veiled criticism of the United States, Putin complained in the letter against a "policy of unilateral use of force and a desire to monopolize conflict settlement." He also criticized those seeking to "provoke a confrontation between civilizations and faiths."

Lavrov, meanwhile, criticized the United States for conducting naval maneuvers in the Persian Gulf.

Lavrov said: "The Persian Gulf is in such a troubled state today that any actions in the region, especially those with the use of the navy and other military forces, should, of course, take into account the need to prevent the exacerbation of the situation even further. It has already been heightened to the limit."

The U.S. exercise, which ended Wednesday, was the largest show of force in the Gulf since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, with 15 ships, 125 aircraft and 13,000 sailors taking part in maneuvers a few dozen kilometers off Iran's coast.

Reuters, AP

i dont think russia well ever be like it was befor but if it is then good but look out for China for now

US, Russia Form Working Group on Missile Defense

(Source: US Department of Defense; issued April 23, 2007)


MOSCOW --- The United States and Russia will form a working group of experts to discuss the proposed U.S. plan to base missile defenses in Eastern Europe, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates announced here today.

“The key to this is cooperation,” the secretary said. “We would like to have the Russians as partners in this process. We would like to share information with them. We’re prepared to collocate radars with them. We think there are some real opportunities here for both sides.”

Gates spoke with U.S. and Russian reporters following meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin, First Deputy Premier Sergey Ivanov at the Russian White House government building, and Defense Minister Anatoliy Serdyukovat the Ministry of Defense.

“A bilateral working group will address technical details and questions about the proposed sites and also Russian concerns that current proposed sites and designs might someday take on a different and larger form,” Gates said. “I believe the experts will both clear up any misunderstandings as well as address the Russians’ concerns.”

Gates said the Russians are fairly clear that the current design and the current plan for 10 interceptors are not a threat to Russia in any way. What U.S. officials need to address, however, is the Russians’ concern that “someday in the future, the character of these sites might change, and would become a greater concern in terms of Russia’s strategic security,” he said.

The secretary said he invited the Russians to inspect the U.S. interceptor site in Alaska and a radar site in California. Gates noted that this is in keeping with President Bush’s desire to approach this issue “transparently and cooperatively” with both the Russians and the Europeans.

From Moscow, Gates is slated to travel to Poland and Germany, where he will also discuss the missile defense plan.

U.S. officials want to deploy the missile defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic to deal with possible missile attack from rogue nations such as Iran. Gates said the Russians are “skeptical that the Iranians will have a ballistic missile that will have the range to hit targets in Western Europe in the foreseeable future.”

“My view is, and what I expressed to both Minister Serdyukov and President Putin, was that we have to look at this strategically and that we need to look 10 to 20 years out,” the secretary said. “Based on my own experience in the intelligence world, I would argue that (saying) countries in the Middle East might not have missiles with that kind of range or capability would be making a very risky assessment.”

At the start of his meetings with Putin and Serdyukov, Gates noted this was his first visit to Russia in 15 years and said he was impressed by the changes. Gates said he last visited Moscow in 1992 as the director of the CIA at the invitation of the head of Russia’s intelligence service to establish a new way forward after the end of the Cold War.

“We established a foundation for cooperation on counternarcotics, counterterrorism and nonproliferation, subjects which clearly still remain at the top of the agenda,” Gates said. “In the interval, a robust military-to-military relationship has developed, and there are opportunities for future cooperation as well as current issues between us.”

Russian and American relations are very important, Gates said and added that he looks forward to positively developing the relationship. While today’s meetings touched on a wide range of topics, he said, the primary focus was on missile defense.

While Putin expressed some of his concerns about the missile defense plan, Gates reported that Putin received him “very cordially.” The secretary said he felt very welcome and that the meeting had a very positive tone.

Gates said he expressed his appreciation for the invitation, noting this was the first visit to Russia by a U.S. defense secretary in six years.

“I felt we made some real headway in clearing up some misunderstandings about the technical characteristics of the system that are of concern to the Russians,” he said. “I would say I came away from the meetings cautiously optimistic.”

Although the Russian defense minister told reporters after his meeting with Gates that the Russians’ position on missile defense "remained basically unchanged,” Gates said he had the impression the minister’s statement was prepared before the meeting.

“I just felt there was a good atmosphere in the meeting,” he said. “And while we were waiting to meet with the press, there were a number of side conversations going on among the experts -- senior Russian military officers and our experts -- that I think even went beyond some of the discussions at the table.

“I don’t want to put words in their mouths, and I don’t want to characterize this more optimistically than perhaps is warranted,” he said, “but I felt this was a useful meeting, and I thought we made some headway.”

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