Russia and United States failed to resolve controversy on antiballistic missile defences
Russia and the United States have failed, during their consultations in the two-by-two format, to resolve their main controversy on antiballistic missile defences. On Friday the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Defence Minister Anatoly Serdiukov held talks with their US counterparts Condoleezza Rice and Robert Gates. Following the consultations Lavrov said that the United States had come up with an alternative ABM-related proposal that Moscow was now carefully studying.
Russia perceives U.S. missile defense based in Europe as a threat beyond the technical capability of 10 ground-based interceptors and one large X-band radar. Russia’s concern is a U.S. military presence in two former Warsaw Pact countries once under Russian influence. A U.S. military presence in Poland and the Czech Republic changes political perceptions both externally and internally in Russia and in Eastern Europe. Thus President Putin has worked over the last year to offer counterproposals and other alternatives to the U.S. missile defense sites located in Poland and the Czech Republic. These proposals, including the Moscow/NATO forum and the radar in Azerbaijan, have some merit; however, they have not and cannot address the technical merits of detecting, discriminating and destroying ballistic missile warheads coming from the Middle East aimed at Europe or the United States.
The United States recognizes Iran as a current and future ballistic missile threat with WMD capability to the United States national security and that of its allies and friends. As such, a missile defense capability that can seek and destroy ballistic missiles fired from Iran before they land in Europe or the United States.
Russia has again urged the United States to freeze Washington’s plans for deploying its ABM system in Europe.
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