By RIA Novosti
Moscow : The United States has proposed an array of confidence building measures to Russia, allowing Moscow to monitor the missile defence elements in Central Europe.
“We will be able to track what the radar (in the Czech Republic) is doing and the real condition of the interceptor missile base (in Poland) — involving both the human factor and technical means,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an interview with Izvestia newspaper Thursday.
US Defence Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had put forward the proposals during a meeting Tuesday to allay Moscow’s concerns, and said the plan would be finalized in writing by the end of the day. The papers were handed to Russia Wednesday.
Lavrov reiterated Russia’s position on the missile defence issue that “the step would further erode strategic stability in the world”.
He said Moscow had made the Americans “acknowledge that our concerns are not unfounded.”
“They are continuing to persuade us that they have no intention of using these bases in Poland and the Czech Republic against us, but they have to accept our argument as well – in such cases it’s the potential and not the intention that matters,” Lavrov said.