Russia tones down criticism of new U.S. missile plans

By Steve Gutterman

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia signaled on Thursday that a change in U.S. plans for a European anti-missile shield could help the two sides make progress towards resolving a dispute that has frayed their relations.

On Friday, the United States announced it would station 14 new anti-missile interceptors in Alaska after North Korea threatened a pre-emptive nuclear strike, and forgo a new interceptor that would have been deployed in central Europe.

Cold War-era foes Moscow and Washington have long been at loggerheads over the shield in Europe. President Barack Obama's move in 2009 to scale down earlier, Bush-administration plans only offered a short-lived respite. Russia's main concern is that the European shield would weaken its nuclear deterrent.

Russia's point man for U.S. relations, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, said on Thursday the planned changes brought a new element to the issue. He called for further dialogue, noting Moscow still had concern that U.S. missile defenses could threaten its security.

Ryabkov's remarks were more upbeat than Russia's initial, critical reaction to U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel's announcement of changes in U.S. global missile defense plans on Friday.

"There is no unequivocal answer yet to the question of what consequences all this can have for our security," Ryabkov said.

"The causes for concern have not been removed, but dialogue is needed - it is in our interest and we welcome the fact that the American side also, it appears, wants to continue this dialogue," he told reporters.

In Brussels, a senior U.S. defense official said Russia was "not a factor" in the U.S. decision to change missile defense plans but there was hope it would allay Russian misgivings.

"Does this change their perception of U.S. intent ... with the missile defense program? We would certainly hope so and would welcome such a change, but only they, in the end, can decide," said the official, briefing journalists on the condition that he was not further identified.

"We hope they will give it serious consideration and then come, we hope, to the correct conclusion that this is further evidence that NATO's missile defense plans ... do not threaten Russia."

U.S. plans for anti-missile defenses have ruffled relations with Russia since Ronald Reagan's 1980s presidency and caused more tension since U.S. President George W. Bush pulled out in 2002 from a Soviet-era treaty limiting their development.

Obama helped usher in a period of warmer relations with a 2009 decision to scale down the Bush blueprint for a European anti-missile shield. But Moscow soon began warning that the revised U.S. plans also presented a threat.

Ties between Moscow and Washington, both veto-wielding members of the U.N. Security Council, have soured since the return of Vladimir Putin, a former KGB spy, to the Kremlin last May. There have been disputes over human rights and security issues, including the war in Syria.

DIPLOMATIC IRRITANT

Washington says the anti-missile shield it has begun to deploy in Europe in cooperation with NATO nations is meant to counter a possible threat from Iran and poses no risk to Russia.

But Russia has said the shield would eventually enable the West to shoot down some Russian intercontinental ballistic missiles, tipping the post-Cold War balance of power, and has aired suspicions that this is the underlying aim of the system.

In its first official reaction, the Foreign Ministry said on Monday that Moscow would stick to its demand for binding guarantees that the system would not threaten Russia's security.

Washington is highly unlikely to satisfy that demand because of concerns about circumscribing any American missile defense development or giving the Kremlin a say in U.S. defense policy.

Ryabkov said the United States had given Russia more information about its plans during his talks in Geneva this week with Rose Gottemoeller, the U.S. acting under-secretary of state for arms control and international security.

"The material is interesting - it brings something new into this situation," Ryabkov said. "(But) I would not venture to say now whether the decisions made by the (U.S.) administration are a plus or more of a minus."

(Additional reporting by Adrian Croft; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

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On Eve of Conclave, Record Criticism of Church For its Handling of Sexual Abuse Scandals

A record number of American Catholics disapprove of the church's handling of its sexual abuse scandals, underscoring the challenges facing the next pope as he seeks to restore confidence and trust in the church's leadership.

More broadly, Catholics in the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll say the church, while relevant, also is out of touch with their views. Majorities differ with doctrine on issues such as ordaining women and allowing priests to marry, as well as on some central social issues.

See PDF with full results, charts and tables here.

In clearly its greatest difficulty, an overwhelming 78 percent of Catholics now disapprove of how the church has handled the issue of sexual abuse of children by priests, and two-thirds disapprove strongly - the highest and strongest disapproval since the scandals erupted more than a decade ago, up sharply since U.S. church leaders sought to address the issue in 2004.

Sixty percent of Catholics, more generally, describe the church as "out of touch" with the views of Catholics in America, and by 54-38 percent Catholics urge a new direction by the next pope, away from traditional policies and toward new approaches that better reflect "the attitudes and lifestyles of Catholics today." Less-frequent churchgoers, in particular, seek change - but even among those who attend Mass frequently, more than half call the church out of touch.

The survey was completed Sunday, in advance of the conclave starting tomorrow at which cardinals will elect the successor to Pope Benedict XVI, who resigned last month, citing fatigue.

He leaves with somewhat muted acclaim: Sixty-eight percent of Catholics give a positive rating to the way Benedict performed as pope - robust for a political figure, but weaker than might be expected for a spiritual leader. Only 19 percent say he did an "excellent" job. (The pope's personal popularity, as opposed to his performance rating, was higher in an ABC/Post poll last month - 76 percent of Catholics saw him favorably overall, 43 percent "strongly" so.)

DISCONNECTS - Criticism of the church on the sexual abuse scandal is notable both for its direction and its depth. In early 2004, as the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops sought to address the issue with the release of an extensive report, 53 percent of Catholics disapproved, 32 percent strongly. Those numbers have soared by 25 and 35 percentage points, respectively.

If less intense, there are other areas of disconnect as well. Fifty-five percent of Catholics in this poll, produced for ABC by Langer Research Associates, oppose the church's ban on marriage by priests; 58 percent oppose its prohibition on ordaining women. Both are down from their peaks in years past, 67 and 65 percent, respectively, but still reflect majority opposition among Catholics to some basic church positions.

Previous ABC/Post polling has shown differences on social issues, as well. Most American Catholics support gay marriage, for example, and 51 percent favor legal abortion.

Despite these results, acceptance of the church's continued influence is broad, if not full-throated. Eighty-six percent of Catholics see it as relevant in the world today, as do 70 percent of Americans overall. Still, many fewer - 30 percent of Catholics and 18 percent of all adults - call the church "very" relevant, including just 34 percent of frequent churchgoing Catholics.

The church's shortfall in being seen as highly relevant is in accord with other results, such as the nearly 2-1 sense that it's out of touch with the views of Catholics today, 60-34 percent, and the desire among Catholics, by a 16-point margin, for the next pope to adopt policies that reflect current attitudes and lifestyles.

CHURCHGOERS - There are differences within the Catholic faith, notably in the choice between a traditional or new path for the church ahead. Those who attend Mass regularly favor traditional church policies by 58-41 percent, while less-frequent churchgoers, by 63-24 percent, prefer an approach more in tune with current lifestyles and attitudes.

Not surprisingly, then, frequent churchgoers are much more apt to give positive ratings to the traditionalist Benedict's performance as pope - 83 percent do so, vs. 58 percent of those who attend church less frequently. (This drops to 42 percent among non-Catholics, with many more undecided.) Even among frequent Catholic churchgoers, though, just 27 percent say Benedict did an excellent job.

Among other differences, regular churchgoers favor the ban on ordaining women by a 15-point margin, 56-41 percent; but less-frequent churchgoers oppose the ban, by a much broader 70-19 percent. Further, regular attendees divide about evenly on allowing priests to marry; those who attend less often oppose this prohibition by a wide 61-24 percent. (A fifth of adults identify themselves as Catholics. Among them, four in 10 say they attend church almost every week, or more.)

To some extent these results mark a tension for the church between tending to the concerns of current frequent churchgoers while also seeking to appeal to Catholics who attend less often. Nonetheless, as noted, even among regular worshippers, 53 percent describe the church as out of touch with the views of Catholics in America today. And most strikingly, even among regular churchgoers, 74 percent disapprove of the church's handling of the abuse scandal, and six in 10 disapprove strongly.

METHODOLOGY - This ABC News/Washington Post poll was conducted by landline and cell phone March 7-10, 2013, among a random national sample of 1,001 adults, including 201 Catholics. Results have a margin of sampling error of 3.5 points for the full sample, and 8 points for Catholics, including design effect.

The survey was produced for ABC News by Langer Research Associates of New York, N.Y., with sampling, data collection and tabulation by Abt-SRBI of New York, N.Y.

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