Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Boston Globe
November 12, 2008
By Reuters
MOSCOW [FONT=Times New Roman, Times]-[/FONT]- Moscow sent a strong signal to Washington yesterday that it would not rush to deploy its tactical missiles near the Polish border if its former Cold War foe scrapped plans to station a missile shield in Eastern Europe.
Washington says the missile defense shield, which would consist of 10 interceptor missiles in Poland and radar in the Czech Republic, would help protect the United States and its European allies from a missile attack by countries such as Iran.
Moscow has repeatedly said the US plan is a direct threat to Russia's national security.
The Russian president, Dmitry Medvedev, pledged last week to deploy Iskander tactical missiles in the Kaliningrad region bordering Poland in response to the plan to place the US missile system in Eastern Europe.
Iskanders will be deployed "only in case the third positioning region will take a real physical shape," the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, told a news conference on yesterday after talks with his Finnish counterpart, Alexander Stubb.
"We declared through the words of our president: If the third positioning region . . . is created physically, one of the physical measures to neutralize the inevitably emerging threats to Russia's security will be to deploy Iskander systems in the Kaliningrad region," Lavrov said.
The European Union has expressed "strong concern" over Moscow's plan to deploy the Iskander systems near Poland.
Russia and the EU will hold their next summit on Friday.
November 12, 2008
By Reuters
MOSCOW [FONT=Times New Roman, Times]-[/FONT]- Moscow sent a strong signal to Washington yesterday that it would not rush to deploy its tactical missiles near the Polish border if its former Cold War foe scrapped plans to station a missile shield in Eastern Europe.
Washington says the missile defense shield, which would consist of 10 interceptor missiles in Poland and radar in the Czech Republic, would help protect the United States and its European allies from a missile attack by countries such as Iran.
Moscow has repeatedly said the US plan is a direct threat to Russia's national security.
The Russian president, Dmitry Medvedev, pledged last week to deploy Iskander tactical missiles in the Kaliningrad region bordering Poland in response to the plan to place the US missile system in Eastern Europe.
Iskanders will be deployed "only in case the third positioning region will take a real physical shape," the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, told a news conference on yesterday after talks with his Finnish counterpart, Alexander Stubb.
"We declared through the words of our president: If the third positioning region . . . is created physically, one of the physical measures to neutralize the inevitably emerging threats to Russia's security will be to deploy Iskander systems in the Kaliningrad region," Lavrov said.
The European Union has expressed "strong concern" over Moscow's plan to deploy the Iskander systems near Poland.
Russia and the EU will hold their next summit on Friday.