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Exercises cancelled

Vladimir Radyuhin

MOSCOW: Russia has cancelled military exercises with U.S. forces in what defence experts described as a sign of worsening relations between the two countries. The Russian Defence Ministry announced that annual joint war games with the U.S. army scheduled for later this month had been postponed indefinitely because of an absence of a law governing the status of foreign troops in Russia. Speaker of Russia's State Duma Boris Gryzlov confirmed that an agreement on the status of forces between NATO member states and Russia under the Partnership for Peace programme had been submitted to the lower house. He did not say when the pact may be considered. However, experts have pointed out that the absence of respective legislation did not prevent Russia from hosting U.S. forces for joint war games in 2004 and 2005. A former military commander said the cancellation of the war games should be seen a reaction to anti-Russian policies pursued by the U.S. "It makes no sense holding joint military training at a time when Russia is the target of massive attacks in the U.S. across a wide spectrum of issues," Major-General Vladimir Romanenko, former Commander-in-Chief of Russian marines, told The Hindu .

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