The United States and Russia have agreed to discuss formation of a system to warn against ballistic missile attacks, Secretary of State James Baker said Tuesday.
Baker, after meeting for more than two hours with Russian Foreign Minister Andrei Kozyrev, also said the two sides had made some progress on further reductions in their long-range nuclear arsenals, although differences remained."We are moving closer together, particularly with reference to the question of numbers," Baker said at a joint news conference with Kozyrev.
The sticking point is what kind of warheads to eliminate, he said. "It's not just a question of numbers. We have to consider the exact mix," he said.
Both sides want cuts that would take them beyond the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty signed by the United States and the Soviet Union last July. But President Bush has proposed what amounts to a 50 percent cut - down to about 4,500 warheads for the United States, while President Boris Yeltsin has suggested leaving each side with 2,500 warheads.
It was unclear from the news conference whether the United States has agreed to go below the 4,500 level. "The important thing is, we are talking about significant and substantial reductions below the level called for in START," Baker said.