Russia has no intention of cooperating with the United States in its plans for a missile-defence shield in Europe, First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov said on Wednesday.
”We are not going to cooperate against ourselves,” he told a news conference. ”We do not like the explanation [given by the US for having the system].”
”We believe a bilateral decision has already been made between the US and the Czech Republic, and the US and Poland,” said Ivanov, who has overall charge of Russia’s defence sector.
The US says the missile shield is needed to protect it against missile attacks from what it calls rogue states such as Iran and North Korea.
It wants to place elements of the shield in Poland and the Czech Republic but Russia has denounced the project as a threat to its national security.
US Defence Secretary Robert Gates, on a visit to Moscow last month to soften Russian opposition to the plan, offered Moscow the opportunity to cooperate on strategic missile defence. — Reuters