U.S. & Russia Agree To Work on Joint Missile Defense

STATEMENT FOLLOWING U.S.-RUSSIA MISSILE DEFENSE WORKING GROUP CONSULTATIONS

The meeting of the Enhanced Missile Defense Sub-Working Group was held in Brussels on May 2, 2011. The delegations were headed by Russian Federation Deputy Minister of Defense Anatoly Antonov and by U.S. Principal Deputy Under Secretary of Defense James Miller.

The meetings of this group support implementation of the decisions by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and U.S. President Barack Obama to explore ways to cooperate on missile defense and to implement any agreements that may be reached.

The results of these consultations should become U.S. and Russian defense authorities’ contribution to the development of a comprehensive joint analysis of the future framework for missile defense cooperation. This builds on the decisions taken by the heads of state and government at the NATO-Russia Council Summit in Lisbon.

The U.S. and Russian delegations discussed various military technical aspects of potential missile defense cooperation in Europe, which should not adversely affect strategic stability.

Source: U.S. Department of Defense