By Xinhua
Brussels : A senior US official has said that a new American proposal for missile defence cooperation with Russia has interested Moscow and won the support of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) allies.
At the latest round of consultations with NATO allies and with Russia, US officials Wednesday briefed the alliance’s decision-making North Atlantic Council on Washington’s idea of serious cooperation with Moscow in the field of missile defence. A NATO-Russia Council meeting was also held at the NATO headquarters.
US Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Fried, who attended both meetings, said there had been progress on the missile defence issue. He characterised the Russian reaction at the meeting as “reserved in substance, but constructive in tone.
“No sharp words were exchanged,” he told reporters.
Lt. Gen. Henry “Trey” Obering, director of the US Missile Defence Agency, briefed the allies in detail on a new US proposal for “joint regional architecture in missile defence” with Russia.
The proposal was presented to the Russian leadership during last week’s talks between US and Russian foreign and defence ministers in Moscow. The discussions in Moscow were more productive than what was generally reported by the media, he said.
The proposal won universal support of the NATO allies Wednesday, said Fried.
Obering told reporters Wednesday that the proposal involves integration of the Russian and NATO-US anti-missile systems. Such integration would enhance the capacity of the systems, said both officials.
Russia still insists that Washington stop plans to deploy an anti-missile radar base in the Czech Republic and interceptor rockets in Poland. Moscow says the deployment is aimed against it, rather than Iran, as Washington has claimed. Russia has offered that the NATO-US anti-missile system can use its radars in Azerbaijan and southern Russia as a substitute to the proposed Czech site.
Washington has refused to stop negotiations with the Czech Republic and Poland. Obering said the new US proposal shows that Washington is serious in missile defence cooperation with Russia.
The idea, Obering explained, is that Washington wants Russia to be part of the missile defence system in eastern Europe so that Russia can have no fears that the system is designed against it.
He shrugged off suggestions that the US might later increase the number of interceptors in Poland so that the system can indeed threaten Russia.
“This idea that we are just getting a nose under the tent and then we are going somehow to ramp up dramatically from there, I don’t think it’s very realistic. And certainly it’s not in the plans of the United States,” he said.
Obering said to counter Russia’s missile threat, the US needs to dramatically increase the number of interceptors. Washington has a budget for 54 interceptors globally – 40 in Alaska, four in California and 10 planned in Poland.
He also denied that the Czech radar site could be used to spy on Russia, saying the radar has no coverage in Russian airspace.