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Building missile defence sites: US to offer Russia new incentives

WASHINGTON: The United States will offer Russia new incentives in a bid to persuade it to drop its opposition to US plans to build missile defence sites in Poland and the Czech Republic, The New York Times reported Saturday.

Citing unnamed senior administration and military officials, the newspaper said the package would include an invitation to begin linking some Russian and US antimissile systems.

The package includes US offers to cooperate on developing defence technology and to share intelligence about common threats, as well as to permit Russian officials to inspect the future missile bases, the report said.

Administration officials said the initiatives were proposed at least in part at the urging of European allies, and reflected an acknowledgment at the highest levels of the Bush administration that it had not been agile in dealing with Russia on the missile defence issue, the paper said.

The initiatives include offers that are “deeper, more specific and concrete” than any previous proposal for cooperation from the administration to the Kremlin, The Times quotes one senior official as saying.

The initiatives will also include an invitation “toward fundamental integration of our systems,” said a senior military officer involved in the discussions, the report said.

Bush is expected to visit Warsaw in June for talks on installing part of a US missile defence system in Poland, Polish daily Rzeczpospolita said on Saturday, quoting a government source. “We’re expecting Bush to come,” said the source, adding the visit had been arranged by Elzbieta Jakubiak, head of President Lech Kaczynski’s office, during a recent trip to Washington. reuters

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