Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
FNC
March 18, 2008
Special Report with Brit Hume (FNC), 6:00 PM
BRIT HUME: Secretary of State Rice and Defense Secretary Gates came out of their meetings with their Russian counterparts in Moscow with little progress to report on a key issue they went there to discuss, missile defense. But the tone of the talks appeared to be considerably lighter than in recent months. Correspondent Dana Lewis reports.
DANA LEWIS: After almost a year of growing tension between Russia and America, suddenly today someone dialed up defrost on the diplomatic deepfreeze. Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov called talks here in Moscow fruitful. There was progress, he said, except on missile defense.
U.S. Defense Secretary Bob Gates again told the Russians a missile defense radar site in the Czech Republic and rocket interceptors in Poland will move ahead, but said the Russians, including President Vladimir Putin, whom Gates and Secretary Rice met with last night in the Kremlin, appeared to be listening to America’s message.
DEFENSE SECRETARY GATES: Our missile sites and radars would not constitute a threat to Russia. We’ve leaned very far forward in this in an effort to provide reassurance.
LEWIS: The U.S. will now provide written assurances to the Russians of confidence-building measures by placing Russian observers at the radar site which will point to Iran and not Russia. And now it’s been revealed in a letter sent by President Bush to President Putin America has proposed something called a strategic framework agreement. Rice explained today the agreement would formally lay out issues between America and Russia that need to be addressed, including missile defense. A Kremlin source told Fox News it would be a legacy left by current presidents.
SECRETARY OF STATE RICE: To use this document to lay a foundation for the future of U.S./Russian relations, not a treaty or anything of that kind.
LEWIS: Russia and American have also begun working on a legally-binding document to replace the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, which governs nuclear arsenals of both country. START I expires next year.
President Putin has been unpredictable this past year, even threatening Europe with nuclear missiles. Putin has said he will attend the annual NATO conference in Bucharest two weeks from now. And at least today it appears it won’t be the fiery showdown some had predicted.
In Moscow, Dana Lewis, Fox News.
March 18, 2008
Special Report with Brit Hume (FNC), 6:00 PM
BRIT HUME: Secretary of State Rice and Defense Secretary Gates came out of their meetings with their Russian counterparts in Moscow with little progress to report on a key issue they went there to discuss, missile defense. But the tone of the talks appeared to be considerably lighter than in recent months. Correspondent Dana Lewis reports.
DANA LEWIS: After almost a year of growing tension between Russia and America, suddenly today someone dialed up defrost on the diplomatic deepfreeze. Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov called talks here in Moscow fruitful. There was progress, he said, except on missile defense.
U.S. Defense Secretary Bob Gates again told the Russians a missile defense radar site in the Czech Republic and rocket interceptors in Poland will move ahead, but said the Russians, including President Vladimir Putin, whom Gates and Secretary Rice met with last night in the Kremlin, appeared to be listening to America’s message.
DEFENSE SECRETARY GATES: Our missile sites and radars would not constitute a threat to Russia. We’ve leaned very far forward in this in an effort to provide reassurance.
LEWIS: The U.S. will now provide written assurances to the Russians of confidence-building measures by placing Russian observers at the radar site which will point to Iran and not Russia. And now it’s been revealed in a letter sent by President Bush to President Putin America has proposed something called a strategic framework agreement. Rice explained today the agreement would formally lay out issues between America and Russia that need to be addressed, including missile defense. A Kremlin source told Fox News it would be a legacy left by current presidents.
SECRETARY OF STATE RICE: To use this document to lay a foundation for the future of U.S./Russian relations, not a treaty or anything of that kind.
LEWIS: Russia and American have also begun working on a legally-binding document to replace the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, which governs nuclear arsenals of both country. START I expires next year.
President Putin has been unpredictable this past year, even threatening Europe with nuclear missiles. Putin has said he will attend the annual NATO conference in Bucharest two weeks from now. And at least today it appears it won’t be the fiery showdown some had predicted.
In Moscow, Dana Lewis, Fox News.