BRUSSELS -- The United States and Russia on Saturday signed a new agreement aimed at reducing the risks of either country firing a nuclear warhead because of a false missile attack alert.
"The result will be deeper confidence and greater strategic stability between our two nations which translates into a safer and more secure world," US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said after signing a memorandum of understanding with Russian Foreign Minister Ivan Ivanov.
In comments after the signing ceremony, Albright also said the US was satisfied with Russian cooperation on the Middle East and in Afghanistan, but that differences remain over arms sales to Iran and Russian relations with Chechnya and Georgia.
The accord, which expands an earlier agreement, aims to reduce nuclear danger by establishing a pre-and post-launch notification system for launches of ballistic missiles and space launch vehicles.
The two countries also agreed to tell each other if satellites are forced out of orbit, or if they are going to conduct space experiments that could affect early warning radars.
Ivanov, who earlier met NATO foreign ministers here, said the memorandum was aimed at strengthening strategic stability, and that he hoped it would eventually lead to a global system for controlling ballistic missiles.
Albright said the US and Russia would invite other nations to join the new missile and space launch notification system.
"This reflects the fact that proliferation is a threat to every nation and that contributing to stability is every nation's responsibility," she added.
Speaking after their meeting, a US source said there were real patterns of cooperation between the two countries on the Middle East conflict and the UN resolution to pressure the Taliban into expelling Osama bin Laden.
However there are still some issues the US wants addressed, and Albright urged Moscow to think about how it will present its policies to the new US administration that starts work in January, the source said.
Albright re-itereated concern over Russia's decision to pull out of an accord banning arms sales to Iran, a country that "speaks openly of the destruction of Israel."
Ivanov replied that there were no plans for contracts with Teheran in the immediate future, the spokesman said.
Albright also complained that Moscow was not cooperating with the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) on the conflict in Chechnya, where the US has accused the Kremlin of using excessive force.
She also said she was unhappy with the new visa policy for Georgia, which requires Georgian citizens to have visas to visit Russia, yet gives exemptions to people from its separatist regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
The missile memorandum complemented an agreement on sharing early warning information signed last June by President Bill Clinton and Russia's President Vladimir Putin.
The new system will be located at a Joint Data Exchange Center in Moscow agreed under the Clinton-Putin accord.
It will greatly expand the number and types of launches for which notice will have to be given to include shorter-range ballistic missiles, sounding and research rockets and most space launch vehicles.
Early information exchanges began after Clinton and former President Boris Yeltsin signed a joint statement on them in 1998.