By RIA Novosti
Moscow : Russia considers US plans to install a missile defence shield in central Europe an attempt to weaken its nuclear deterrent, a foreign ministry spokesperson has said.
“If a radar (in the Czech Republic) along with missiles in Poland are deployed, this will be a military operation to weaken Russia’s nuclear deterrent potential,” Mikhail Kamynin said in a statement
The officials also made it clear that Russia would retaliate if the US insisted on deploying the missile shield in the region.
“We will have no other option but to take measures to make up for this new factor in our strategic balance of forces with the United States,” Kamynin said.
He cited a recent newspaper interview by Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg, who said it would be logical for the US radar to monitor Russian territory.
“Such statements by Czech leaders show that talk about a missile threat from Iran is ungrounded,” he said and added that the way Czech diplomats are speaking on the issue, it reveals “true goal behind the missile shield plans”.
Moscow has fiercely opposed Washington’s missile shield plans in Europe as a threat to its national security.
Russia has been opposing US plans to set up missile defence shield in central Europe saying it would a threat to its national defence, while the US has argued the shield is needed to counter missile attacks from “rogue” states.
Talks between the two sides on a compromise have so far failed to yield results.