Washington - The US Secretary of State, Mr Colin Powell, yesterday defended the US decision to withdraw from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, saying it would not trigger an arms race or damage relations with Russia and China. President Bush gave formal notice last week that he was abandoning the treaty, the bedrock of US-Russian nuclear stability for three decades, in order to press ahead with efforts to develop a missile defence system.
"Both we and the Russians see that we have mutual interests that will keep us working closely together ... So (there is) no arms race and no fracture of the relationship with Russia," Mr Powell told Fox News Sunday.