WASHINGTON, May 12 (RIA Novosti) - The U.S. Congress Thursday morning approved a resolution calling for cooperation with Russia on missile defense, the Congress secretariat said Friday.
The resolution, which said cooperation between Russia and the U.S. on missile defense was in U.S. interests and should be tighter, was passed by majority vote and included into the U.S. defense budget for 2007, the secretariat said.
Congress also called for studying innovative and non-traditional ways of interaction with Russia in the area. The resolution says cooperation could include using Russian target missiles to test specific equipment elements of the U.S. Defense Department's Missile Defense Agency to detect and track down missiles.
Lawmakers also proposed using Russian radar data as early warning radars for the agency.
The resolution comes in the wake of President Vladimir Putin's state of the nation address to parliament on May 10, in which he said Russia's Armed Forces had to be able to react to multiple threats, ranging from a traditional enemy attack or pressure exerted by another country to an attack carried out by international terrorists.
He said current research in the country focused on the development of unique high-precision weapons and warheads "whose trajectory could not be predicted by a potential enemy," and that two strategic nuclear submarines would be commissioned this year.
