U.S. sells missile shield with Cold War tactics: Russia
Pastor Dale Morgan
U.S. sells missile shield with Cold War tactics: Russia*
By Michael Stott
Reuters
Wednesday, March 21, 2007; 11:40 AM
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia accused the United States on Wednesday of
using Cold War methods to persuade Europe to host an anti-missile shield
that Moscow says is a threat to its national security.
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Washington had failed to respect its
European partners because it had devised the scheme unilaterally and
then tried to impose it on them.
"This is an old approach," Lavrov told the State Duma (parliament) in
televised remarks.
"This is how they acted in past times, during the Cold War, when they
scared everyone with the Soviet threat and persuaded everybody to group
together in a disciplined bloc."
Responding for the United States, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State
Daniel Fried said he did not understand Lavrov's comments and Washington
wanted the maximum possible cooperation with Moscow on its defense
shield plans.
"Slogans in this case are not terribly useful. We are not trying to
scare anyone," Fried told reporters in Warsaw.
Washington plans to install warning radars and missile batteries in
Poland and the Czech Republic as part of a scheme it is designing to
counter future long-range rocket attacks by hostile states such as Iran
or North Korea.
Moscow has strongly attacked the plan, saying Iran does not have
long-range missiles and charging that the shield threatens Russia's
security. It has pledged to develop counter-measures.
President Vladimir Putin says the shield exemplifies a unilateralist
approach by the United States to global security, a policy he says has
made the world a more dangerous place.
Amid worsening relations with the United States and attempts to project
its own power beyond its borders, Moscow has called instead for greater
multilateral cooperation to deal with emerging global threats.
Lavrov said Russian military experts wanted to discuss the shield with
the Americans to persuade them that "so far hypothetical threats can be
neutralized using other methods that would not pose a tangible threat to
the Russian Federation."
Referring to the opposition in some European countries to deployment of
the shield, Lavrov added: "Judging by the voices currently being heard
in the European Union, our proposals will be listened to."
Fried, trying to dampen European opposition to the project on a two-day
trip to Poland, said the shield would protect the continent, could be
integrated in various ways into NATO and would also benefit from full
cooperation with Russia.
"Russia is not threatened by this system and it knows it," he said. "We
have said repeatedly and explicitly that the missile defense system we
have now is not designed against Russia, nor is it capable of use
against Russia."
He said Washington would welcome Moscow's cooperation on what he said
was a common threat from Iran.
"I don't believe in placing artificial barriers on our cooperation with
Russia. But it is the Russians and only the Russians who can decide how
much cooperation they want."
Russian officials have expressed disquiet over reports that Washington
also wants ex-Soviet Georgia to host part of the planned shield. Both
Washington and Tbilisi have said no such request has been made.
(Additional reporting by Chris Johnson in Warsaw)