Did missile defence ‘top the agenda’ in a meeting between Lavrov and Rasmussen in New York?

Nigel Chamberlain, NATO Watch

In an exclusive interview with The Voice of Russia on 12 September 2012, Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said “missile defence is one of the most promising areas of cooperation” with NATO and:

Russia proposed creating a Sectoral Missile Defence system. Such a system would protect the entire Euro-Atlantic region against missile risks. But our partners believe that there should be two systems, linked by a sort of interface.
 
Later, on 20 September, he told RT that there was still time to negotiate with NATO to resolve missile defence disagreements, but he was not optimistic:
 
Unfortunately, there is no tangible progress at the moment. What is more, NATO has declared the primary readiness of the missile defence system. The project could change the very essence of Russia-NATO relations.
 
He confirmed that Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen would discuss the issue during the UN General Assembly in New York and indicated that it would ‘top the agenda’.
 
Grushko could have been alluding to the modernisation of Russia’s military forces which are being partly justified in Moscow as a response to NATO enlargement and the deployment of missile interceptor batteries in Eastern Europe. Analyst Georgi Ivanov warns that, “In a multipolar world, Russia will retain its defensive military doctrine, but it will undergo significant technological adjustments to offer the potential for offensive policy reforms”.
 
In a throw-back to the dark days of US-Soviet arms racing, the Russian Government has allocated 20 trillion rubles ($641 billion) to the comprehensive rearmament of Russia's Armed Forces. It is hoped this will see the share of modern weaponry reach 30% by 2015, with this figure rising to 70% by 2020.
 
In a recent television interview, Russian President Vladimir Putin said it was necessary to continue the dialogue on the US missile defence programme in Europe, but he was not sure whether Washington was "prepared for this kind of cooperation”. US Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul said this week: "We believe that someday in the future NATO and Russia might work together on the missile defence.” 
 
Former chief of the Russian Strategic Missile Forces Viktor Yesin said last week that Russia will reactivate mothballed ballistic missile silos around Moscow as part of deep modernization of a missile defence network protecting the Russian capital.
 
 
Despite our differences of opinion, we remain convinced that missile defense cooperation between the United States and Russia (and between NATO and Russia) is in the national security interests of all countries involved. For that reason, missile defense cooperation with Russia remains a Presidential priority for this Administration.

We cannot accept Russia’s demand for legally-binding guarantees that our missile defences will not threaten Russia’s strategic deterrent. Russia’s demand that such guarantees include a set of “military-technical criteria” would create limitations on our ability to develop and deploy future missile defence systems against the evolving ballistic missile threats presented by Iran and North Korea. As the growth of the ballistic missile threats continues unabated, we cannot place artificial limits on our ability to defend ourselves, our allies, and our partners. This includes any limitations on the operating areas of our BMD-capable multi-mission Aegis ships.

We would, however, be willing to establish a political framework for cooperation that includes a statement that our missile defences are not oriented toward Russia. Any such statement would publicly proclaim our intent to work together and chart the direction for cooperation. Indeed, this is what we have been saying to Russia for the past several years.
 
NATO Deputy Secretary General Alexander Vershbow told a Russia-NATO conference in Moscow this week that they might be able to find common ground on missile defence, despite the current deadlock. 
 
Anders Fogh Rasmussen met the Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov at the UN General Assembly in New York on 26 September. While the NATO briefing does not specifically refer to any discussion on missile defence it says that “they reconfirmed the intention to move forward with new initiatives on practical cooperation and continue substantial political dialogue through the NATO-Russia Council”. 
 
Both sides appear to have been tight-lipped following the meeting and there is no indication, to date, that missile defence did indeed ‘top the agenda’.