MOSCOW -- Russia has not received an offer from the United States to buy Moscow's S-300 anti-aircraft missiles for a missile defense shield, but would study such an offer if it came, Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said Monday.
Ivanov was responding to a report in the New York Times that said U.S. officials planned to offer to buy S-300s as part of a package of incentives to win Moscow's agreement to modify the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) treaty to allow Washington to build a missile shield.
"So far we have received no official offer about the possibility of buying the S-300," Ivanov told a news conference. "If they approach us, we will consider it in the commission on military-technical cooperation chaired by the president."
But he added: "The S-300 is intended for anti-aircraft -- not anti-missile -- defense. So I can't link this to the current disagreement on ABM."
The New York Times report quoted "senior administration strategists" as suggesting the S-300 purchases, as part of a package of incentives to Moscow that would also include offers to hold joint exercises and help Moscow build radar systems.
It said U.S. officials had not yet made the offers in detail to the Russians, but had hinted at them during a visit to Moscow by a team led by assistant Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz earlier this month.
The U.S. proposals would be made in more detail when presidents George W. Bush and Vladimir Putin meet next month.
The S-300 surface-to-air missile is Russia's highly advanced equivalent of U.S. patriot missiles, designed to destroy fast-moving bombers and cruise missiles, which are essentially unmanned aircraft.
The Times article said the S-300 can also be used against some short- and medium-range ballistic missiles, and said to just within the limits prescribed by the ABM treaty.
The ABM treaty generally prohibits defenses that can shoot down long-range ballistic missiles.
