Russia will abandon missile plans if US cancels shield

Russia will abandon missile plans if US cancels shield

(NSI News Source Info) Moscow (AFP) November 12, 2008: Russia will abandon plans to deploy missiles on the EU's doorstep in Kaliningrad if the US scraps its plans to base part of a missile defence shield in Europe, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Tuesday. "We have said through the voice of our president that if the third zone of positioning of the US anti-missile shield is created, one of the measures to neutralise the threats to Russia's security that would inevitably arise will be the deployment of Iskander systems in the Kaliningrad region," he said. The missiles will be deployed "only if the third zone of positioning really takes shape," Lavrov told reporters. President Dmitry Medvedev announced the move to deploy Iskander missiles in Kaliningrad, a Russian territory between Poland and Lithuania, last Wednesday. He said the deployment would counter a US anti-missile system to be based in Poland and the Czech Republic by 2013-2014, sounding a warning shot to US president-elect Barack Obama and Washington's allies in central Europe. Russia says the US plans threaten Russian security and dismisses claims they are directed against "rogue states" such as Iran. Medvedev had said the US had sped up its missile-defence plans in reaction to August's war in Georgia, in which Russia clashed with its southern neighbour over the Moscow-backed breakaway region of South Ossetia. The Russian president's announcement drew criticism from the West, with the United States calling it "disappointing" and Germany saying it was "the wrong message at the wrong time." The European Union also expressed strong concern over Russia's decision. Polish President Lech Kaczynski said that Obama had told him in a telephone call that "the anti-missile shield project would go ahead" in which 10 missile interceptors are set up in Poland under a deal signed August 14. But Obama's foreign policy advisor Dennis McDonough said the president-elect "made no commitment" on the shield during his conversation with the Polish president. "His position is as it was throughout the campaign, that he supports deploying a missile defense system when the technology is proved to be workable," McDonough said.

US defends missile defense plan

The United States reaffirmed Tuesday that its missile defense plan does not target Russia after Moscow said it would not put missiles on the European Union's doorstep if Washington forgoes the shield. "Missile defense is designed to protect all of us from launches from rogue states. We will continue to make that clear to the Russians," White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe told AFP. He spoke after Russian Foreign Sergei Lavrov said Tuesday that Moscow would drop plans to put missiles in Kaliningrad if Washington halts its missile shield initiatives. "We have said through the voice of our president that if the third zone of positioning of the US anti-missile shield is created, one of the measures to neutralize the threats to Russia's security that would inevitably arise will be the deployment of Iskander systems in the Kaliningrad region," he said. The missiles will be deployed "only if the third zone of positioning really takes shape," Lavrov told reporters. President Dmitry Medvedev announced the move to deploy Iskander missiles in Kaliningrad, a Russian territory between Poland and Lithuania, last Wednesday. He said the deployment would counter a US anti-missile system to be based in Poland and the Czech Republic by 2013-2014, sounding a warning shot to US president-elect Barack Obama and Washington's allies in central Europe.