Bush decides on nuclear cutbacks
President George Bush has decided how many nuclear weapons he could safely cut from the US arsenal - a big step toward an agreement with Russian president Vladimir Putin.
‘‘And I am going to do it,’’ Bush said yesterday.
Russia has proposed new limits on US and Russian stockpiles of no more than 2,000 long-range warheads for each country, down from a current total of about 6,000 each.
The Bush administration was said to be considering 1,750 to 2,250 warheads apiece.
Bush declined to reveal how many weapons he intended to jettison in advance of his meetings next week with the Russian leader in Washington and at his ranch in Crawford, Texas.
He said only that the new level would be much lower than past negotiations with Russia produced.
‘‘I am not going to tell you until I tell him,’’ Bush said of Putin.
Earlier, three US officials said the United States and Russia were making progress, but an agreement might not be completed when the leaders met.
But Bush said he did not need an arms control accord with Russia to convince him to substantially reduce the US stockpile.
‘‘I have reached a decision, and I spent time thinking about the issue,’’ Bush said at a joint news conference with Britain’s prime Minister Tony Blair.
‘‘The United States will move to reduce our offensive weapons to a level commensurate with being able to keep the peace.’’
On his quest for an anti-missile shield, Bush said he was going into the talks with Putin still convinced that a 1972 treaty banning national defences was outdated.
The war on terrorism underscores the need for a defence, Bush said. If Putin had ‘‘interesting suggestions’’ on how to go ahead despite the treaty, he said was willing to listen.
The US officials said the two leaders were unlikely to impose either equal or precise limits on US and Russian warheads.
They are more inclined to set ranges far below the current totals, possibly with different ranges for the United States and Russia.
Putin will meet Bush on Tuesday at the White House and on Wednesday and Thursday in Texas. A final decision is up to them, but talks on weapons cutbacks could go on for some time, the officials said.
High-level meetings in Washington and Moscow already have produced substantial progress towards an agreement, they said.
Parts of the 1991 Strategic Arms Limitation treaty that set up verification procedures to guard against cheating may be adapted to any new pact.
Putin also has shifted his position on Bush’s plan for an anti-missile shield.
Last winter, Putin was predicting the unravelling of arms control accords with the United States if Bush went ahead with tests that conflicted with the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.
But now the Russian leader acknowledges that the United States has a right to withdraw from the treaty, and that Bush will have to do it to proceed with his programme, an official said.
The meeting will be the fourth held by Bush and Putin.
Their relationship was already on the upswing before the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States.
That trend has accelerated with Russia’s co-operation in the US campaign against terrorism, the officials said.
On a touchy front, Bush will take up with Putin the Russian technological assistance that the administration is convinced Iran has used in its nuclear weapons programme, the official said.
Bush will make the point that a nuclear-armed Iran would pose serious dangers, the official said.
Putin insisted in an American television interview that Russia was not providing dangerous weapons technology to Iran, calling such allegations a ‘‘legend’’.
But Ephraim Sneh, a former Israeli general and now transportation minister, said yesterday he was certain ‘‘the central support for the Iranian nuclear project is provided by Russia’’.
