Russia opens route for US to fly arms to Afghanistan

“Afghanistan is one of the areas where we must cooperate,” Mikhail Margelov,chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee in Russia’s upper house of Parliament,said in an interview. Russia understands,he said,that the US and NATO forces in Afghanistan are effectively defending Russia’s southern flank.

Until now,Russia has allowed only restricted use of its territory for the Afghan war,permitting shipments of non-lethal supplies by train. Under the new agreement,American officials said,military planes carrying lethal equipment as well as troops will be allowed to make thousands of flights a year through Russian airspace.

As Obama prepared to leave on Sunday for his first visit here since taking office,negotiators were trying to work out a preliminary agreement on nuclear arms cuts that he could announce along with President Dmitry A Medvedev. But officials said they were still divided on important elements and not sure whether they would make a breakthrough in time.

If successful,the two leaders hope to lay out a range of possible limits for warheads and delivery vehicles as well as address issues like the verification of conventional arms.

The so-called framework agreement under discussion would lay out the parameters of a treaty to be drafted by the end of the year to replace the expiring cold war Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty.