The Moscow Summit--We Can Both Win : Foreign policy: Despite Iran and Chechnya, relations can’t be held hostage to single issues.

This week’s summit can only reinforce the notion that America benefits from cooperation and engagement with Russia. We have made clear our concerns on issues such as Russia’s aggression in Chechnya and its plan to sell a nuclear reactor to Iran. We will continue to do so.

But our relations with Russia must not be held hostage to any single issue, just as our relations with France or Mexico are not derailed by issues on which we disagree. The key attribute of our policy with Russia and the other former Soviet states ought to be a clear sense of purpose. That purpose is protecting American security.

We want a Russia we can work with rather than defend against. Therefore, our engagement is partly aimed at the long-term goal of assisting Russia and the other former Soviet states in their transition to democracies and market economies. But we also have a rare opportunity to pursue shared security interests, such as preventing nuclear proliferation.

President Clinton will urge Russia to work with the world community to combat this and other threats such as terrorism, organized crime and religious and ethnic warfare. He will also carry the message that as long as the Russian leaders reject isolation in favor of cooperation, they will find a steady partner in the United States.

Russia’s nuclear missiles are no longer aimed at us, nor are our missiles targeted on them. Both countries are eliminating about 2,000 nuclear warheads a year and are ahead of schedule in dismantling weapons under the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, (START I), which will reduce strategic arsenals by half.

This progress has been possible in part because of the Cooperative Threat Reduction--or “Nunn-Lugar”--program, which provides funds to accelerate the dismantlement and destruction of nuclear weapons, increase the security of those that remain and promote defense conversion in the former Soviet Union. Cooperative initiatives under this program have decreased the nuclear threat; these initiatives will be applied to START II, which, when ratified, will further reduce nuclear forces.

I saw this progress--and the fruits of cooperation--when I toured Russia’s Engels Air Base, where Soviet bombers are being chopped up and dismantled under START I. It was an amazing sight. One American reporter described gigantic Russian bombers lying in pieces “as if ripped apart by angry gods--a fuselage here, a heap of wings there and a pile of propellers for the heavy bombers known as Bears.”

The United States is also working with former Soviet states to prevent nuclear components form falling into the hands of smugglers, terrorists and rogue nations. In Moscow last month, I signed agreements providing Russia with $20 million to help transport and store nuclear weapons safely and securely. Our cooperation with Russia in preventing theft and illegal trade in nuclear materials has been good, and I expect the summit to lead to even greater cooperation. In one project last year, the United States secretly airlifted nearly 600 kilograms of nuclear material from Kazakhstan to a secure storage space in the United States.

We are also working with former Soviet states to help them convert former defense factories into peaceful production. While I was in Moscow, I also toured the facility of a U.S.-Russian joint venture called Istok. Using Nunn-Lugar seed money, a Russian producer of electronic warfare technology hooked up with a small American company and formed a venture to make hearing aids.

This is not only defense conversion in action; it is also a classic example of how our relationship has changed from being a no-win game to one in which everyone wins. It is a win for the Russian economy, a win for U.S. business and a win for the security of both our countries.