RUSSIA - June 29 - Moscow Does Not Rule Out Amendments To ABM Treaty.

A high-ranking military officer in charge of international co-operation Col. Gen. Leonid Ivashov says Moscow "does not rule out amendments to the 1972 ABM Treaty, but what the United States is demanding will lead to the collapse of the entire accord. We are not going down that path, as such a step would destroy the system of checks and balances in the strategic sphere". (His comments mark the first time such a high-ranking official has explicitly raised the possibility of making changes to the treaty, seen as a relic of the Cold War by the US administration but regarded as vital to strategic security by Moscow. Pres. Putin on June 18, speaking to US journalists following his first meeting with Bush, said the treaty had been amended before, a comment that defence analysts said indicated that Moscow understood that it had to give ground to save the ABM Treaty. The US administration wants to build a national missile defence system to protect itself against the threat of rockets from what it calls rogue nations. But Moscow says US fears are exaggerated and has called for the two sides, with Europe and other nuclear powers like China, to agree to political measures to thwart emerging threats).