Moscow and Washington have swapped erstwhile formal disarmament accords for a casual presidential handshake ratifying unilateral decisions, the Russian newspapers wrote Thursday, commenting on the Bush-Putin summit.
"It is now enough for the Russian and US presidents to shake hands for unilateral decisions on arms cut to be enforced," the Nezavisimaya Gazeta daily said.
"That way, (George W.) Bush considers that strategic stability can be managed in a much more dynamic way. (Vladimir) Putin had little choice but to agree to this approach, since the state of Russia's economy will not allow it to keep more than 1,500 nuclear warheads by 2010," Nezavisimaya Gazeta added.
The Vremya MN daily agreed: "It comes as no surprise that Bush did not want a treaty to seal announced levels (of nuclear warheads for each country). That way, circumstances will play an important part in eventually setting those levels, since cuts will be implemented over a 10-year period, and Bush's successor will also have a say in the matter."
But on the whole, Washington nevertheless paid Moscow a favor by agreeing to cut arms levels, Nezavisimaya Gazeta agreed.
"There is no denying the United States gave a display of goodwill towards Russia, since the state of the US economy could have easily allowed Washington to keep a level of 6,000 to 7,000 warheads," it wrote.
And, Vremya MN claimed, more goodwill was yet to come from the US side, since "Bush accepted Putin's demands and agreed to draft a written agreement regarding warhead cuts." -- AFP
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