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#29 - JRL 2007-127 - JRL Home
Russia hopes for US readiness to professionally discuss antimissile shield
RIA Novosti

Moscow, 6 June: Russia believes that the USA will be ready to discuss the level of threat presented by deploying elements of the US missile defence system in Europe, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told journalists.

"When we are convinced that [the missile defence system] is not targeting us but Iran and North Korea, we will be ready to sit down at the negotiating table and discuss jointly and professionally how real the threat is, without any propaganda or journalists, with a globe and a pair of compasses at the level of military experts," Lavrov said on his way back from South Korea.

"We are ready for it and I believe that our American partners will be ready for it as well," Lavrov said.

He added that the Polish and Czech authorities were proving by their statements that the deployment of the US missile defence was specifically targeting Russia.

Lavrov also said that some Polish and Czech leaders were trying to convince the population that the deployment of the US missile defence system "will rid them of the Russian threat once and for all".

"So the owners of this third missile deployment area [in Eastern Europe] do not see it [the deployment] as having any connections with either Iran or North Korea," Lavrov said.

"If objects [missile defence elements] appear near our border which, according to our assessment, are aimed at the neutralization of our potential, any military planner has to take measures so that this threat be eliminated," Lavrov said.

When this was voiced for the first time, no-one paid attention to it but now a lot of noise is being made [around this], Lavrov said.

"This convinces me that the situation has been politicized," Lavrov said. At the same time he has denied claims that Russia is resorting to Cold War rhetoric.

"If our analysis is right then the USA's decision to create a third missile launching area where they are planning to set it up is entirely in line with Cold War mentality," he added.