Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Sunday dismissed as
groundless US claims that the planned deployment of missile defense
elements in the Czech Republic and Poland are targeted against Iran
and North Korea.
The United States is seeking to deploy a missile defense radar
in the Czech Republic and 10 interceptor missiles in Poland as part
of a US-built shield against ballistic missiles.
"To counter threats, even imagined ones, radars and antimissile
launch pads wouldn't seem necessary because the trajectories of the
imagined missiles flying from Iran or North Korea go in an
absolutely different direction," Lavrov was quoted by the Interfax
news agency as saying.
"We are studying all this and we must understand what is happening
around our borders regarding the configuration of strategic
stability," he said.
US officials have repeatedly said the missile defense system is
not targeted against Russia. But Lavrov said: "We have to use
facts."
"We were once told that NATO would not expand and that no
military structure would move into eastern Europe. The time of
rhetoric has gone and we want to make decisions, guided by real
facts, on how our security should be guaranteed," he said.
The US move has drawn sharp criticism from Moscow. A top Russian
military commander has warned that the Strategic Missile Forces
could put these facilities on the list of its targets if the two
countries decide to host them.
(Xinhua News Agency February 26, 2007)
