In his first public reaction today to the US proposal, made during a joint press conference, the Indian minister said he was against the unilateral abrogation of the 1972 Anti Ballistic Missile treaty. He reminded his guests that India's welcome to the US plan was a qualified one. "Between mutually agreed decisions and mutually assured destruction we prefer the former," he said. 

Ivanov made it clear he had no objections to India's optimism regarding Washington's new nuclear plans. "Our approaches mostly coincide," he said. He said he was looking forward to meeting the delegation of experts that the US President has promised to send to explain the US plan in detail. "But we will not just listen. We have something to say." 

Ivanov's statements were contrary to expectations that Russia would react adversely to India's embrace of Bush's missile-based nuclear doctrine. Along with a press conference he had held about Bush's plan just before leaving for India, his statements indicate Moscow has taken note that Bush had stated Russia was not a strategic adversary of the US. 

Prior to his meeting with Singh, Ivanov had called on Prime Minister Vajpayee and gave him a letter from President Vladimir Putin, which proposed specific steps to improve bilateral co-operation. Russia has welcomed a greater participation by India in its economic recovery and hopes for more joint ventures. A summit level meeting was proposed for November in Moscow and India confirmed that Vajpayee would be accepting the offer. 

On the question of a New Delhi-Moscow-Beijing axis, the two foreign ministers said the idea harked back to cold war-era formations which were no longer desirable. Ivanov said all three countries were working with each other on a bilateral basis.