In Russia, they thought through the implications of the U.S. withdrawal from the ABM Treaty and helped negotiate the Moscow Treaty, dramatically reducing nuclear warheads.

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To be sure, had the Russians behaved worse, they might have increased the political costs to Mr. Bush of U.S. withdrawal from the ABM Treaty.

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Putin's refraining from strenuous objections to U.S. withdrawal from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty appears likely to be rewarded with some sort of cooperative role in the American missile defense program.

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