Russian Parliamentarians, Western Experts Disagree on Most Aspects of Missile Defense Cooperation - Duma Deputy
MOSCOW. May 31 (Interfax) - Russian parliamentarians and experts from U.S. and NATO working groups reached a consensus only on one out of three issues regarding a European missile defense system.
"I formulated three main questions and caught myself at realizing that our counterparts and we have only one answer coinciding," Russian State Duma international affairs committee had Konstantin Kosachyov told Interfax.
The parties, in particular, disagreed on whether "any real threats calling for immediate deployment of a European missile defense system in Eastern European countries exist already now" and whether "a missile defense system can guarantee real security both to NATO countries and Russia, Kosachyov said.
"Former presidential National Security Advisor and co-chairman of the missile defense working group Stephen Hadley's answer was absolutely positive, but our and some U.S. experts believe this is not so," Kosachyov said.
Huge money that the U.S. and NATO plan to spend on a European missile defense system cannot fully guarantee security, he said.
The Russian parliamentarians and their guests have the same opinions only on possible cooperation between Russia, the U.S. and NATO on missile defense, he said.
"It is my deep conviction that this is the only significant option, because such cooperation is necessary not only to improve the military component of a missile defense system but also to extend it to politics and coordination of efforts to build a real front countering terrorism, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and other global threats," he said.
At the same time, "there is significantly less cooperation on this today than it would be desirable, and it has not increased much from the zero level so far," he said.
"Coordination of actions of national missile centers, including exchange of information and development of some joint elements of control," could help start such constructive cooperation between the parties, Kosachyov said.
Keyword Tags:
