RIA Novosti
Mexico City, April 8 (RIA Novosti) Retired Cuban leader Fidel Castro has said the US plans for a global missile shield were a menace to Russia, and advised Moscow to seek its main allies in Asia. The US is developing a global missile defence system, which it claims is needed to counter possible strikes from rogue states such as Iran.

The system’s components are located in Alaska and California with preparations under way for a third site in Central Europe - Poland and the Czech Republic.

“Why should the US have its space ports, radars and launch pads in Europe if not to threaten Russia?” Castro said in an interview with Cuban daily Granma.

Russia is opposed to the US plans, calling them a threat to national security and a destabilizing factor for Europe.

Castro said the US military plans were also threatening “China and all other countries without exception, to turn them into allies or enemies of an empire with an unsustainable economic and political system”.

He said that although Europe is a cultural and scientific centre and main consumer of Russian oil and gas, Moscow should be oriented towards Asia, whose international trade institutions via the Shanghai Cooperation Organization are more eager to cooperate with Moscow than the World Trade Organization, in which Russia is seeking membership.
RIA Novosti