#28 - JRL 2009-181 - JRL Home
Russia against Europe's missile defence becoming part of US system - NATO envoy
Interfax
Moscow, 29 September: Moscow is against the European missile defence system becoming part of the US missile defence system and depending on this it will decide the issue of expediency of cooperation with NATO in the sphere of missile defence.
"If we get more clarity and predictability regarding what Washington has offered (in the sphere of missile defence - Interfax), if we understand that actually the initiative of the European missile defence will not be part of the US missile defence, then - yes - efforts of this kind are possible," the Russian permanent representative to NATO, Dmitriy Rogozin, announced at a news conference in the central office of Interfax.
This is how he answered a question on whether the resumption of cooperation between Russia and NATO in the sphere of missile defence of the theatre of military operations was possible.
According to him, the decision by Moscow would largely depend "on one hand on the desire of European allies of NATO to build a system of this kind together with Russia". Rogozin recalled that recently NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen spoke about this possibility.
"On the other hand, this will be linked to whether the United States intends to shape what the Europeans are doing to suit its aims and to build it into its missile defence system," he added.
Rogozin recalled that in the past there was a project between Russia and NATO that provided for cooperation in the sphere of tactical missile defence.
"This concerned the possibility of cooperation between the Russian Armed Forces and the Armed Forces of NATO member states who possess relevant systems for intercepting missiles, first of all of small-range
missiles to defend the so-called peacekeeping contingents," Rogozin said.
He also recalled that at the beginning of the last year joint computer exercise took place in Germany between specialists of the Russian Federation and NATO in the sphere of tactical missile defence. "These exercises showed that the Russian systems and similar systems that exist in the Western countries can work together and what is more, they give a cumulative multiplier effect that strengthens the reliability of the defences of our military contingents," Rogozin noted.
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