IRAR-TASS reported that a meeting between visiting US Undersecretary of State John Bolton and the deputy of the Russian deputy chief of staff, Yury Baluyevsky, ended in a disagreement.
"The explanation presented by the US side was far from satisfactory from the Russian point of view," ITAR-TASS quoted a defense ministry official who attended Bolton's talks with Baluyevsky as saying.
The source said that Russia "was unable to understand how the forceful interception of planes and ships that may be carrying weapons of mass destruction agrees with international law".
"We have also failed to receive the technical aspects" of how these operations would be conducted, ITAR-TASS quoted the defense ministry source as saying.
Yet the source said that that consultations would continue in the near future.
Bolton's agenda in his two-day visit to Moscow ending yesterday was topped by the bid to convince Russia to sign up to the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI).
Russia is the only member of the Group of Eight leading industrialised nations not to have signed up to the PSI, which calls on signatories to take action to stop the spread of weapons of mass destruction. US officials have said they would like to see Russia on board by the time the United States hosts a G8 summit in June.
But Russia fears that the initiative will allow the US to launch unilateral raids against ships and planes without agreement from international institutions like the UN Security Council where Russia has veto power. – Sapa-AFP.
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