US, Russia admit differences over missile shield
April 1st, 2009 - 9:19 pm ICT by IANS
London, April 1 (RIA Novosti) Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and his US counterpart Barack Obama Wednesday admitted that there were still differences between the two nations over the issue of US-proposed missile shield in Central Europe.
“While acknowledging that differences remain over the purposes of deployment of missile defence assets in Europe, we discussed new possibilities for mutual international cooperation in the field of missile defence,” the two leaders said in a joint statement after their meeting in London.
Washington has agreed with Warsaw and Prague on plans to deploy 10 interceptor missiles in Poland and a radar in the Czech Republic by 2013. The US says the defences are needed to deter possible strikes from “rogue states” such as Iran.
Russia has consistently opposed the missile shield as a threat to its national security and Medvedev threatened last November to deploy Iskander-M missiles in the country’s westernmost exclave of Kaliningrad, which borders NATO members Poland and Lithuania, if the shield was put into operation.
However, top Russian officials have repeatedly expressed their hope that President Barack Obama will not follow through with the missile defence plans of his predecessor, George W. Bush.
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- Russia says to drop Iskander plans if US scraps missile shield - Mar 03, 2009
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- Poland wants to build own missile defence - Aug 12, 2012
- No strategic significance for Patriot missiles near Russia: Poland - Jan 21, 2010
- Russia unveils anti-missile radar in Kaliningrad - Nov 29, 2011
- Russia scraps Kaliningrad missile plan - Sep 19, 2009
- Russia will counter US missile defence: Medvedev - Feb 22, 2012
- US missile defence aimed at Russian nuclear deterrent: Minister - Feb 07, 2009
- US may disclose missile defence data to Russia - Mar 12, 2012
- Medvedev to discuss missile issues with US - Jun 11, 2010
- Compromise with US on missile shield possible: Medvedev - Nov 24, 2008
- Missile shield set to counter Iran, not Russia: Obama - Jul 06, 2009
- 'Russia will reciprocate if US drops missile shield plan' - Nov 13, 2008
- US vows to go ahead with missile shield - May 11, 2012
Tags: barack obama, central europe, defence plans, defences, dmitry medvedev, exclave, george w bush, interceptor missiles, international cooperation, kaliningrad, last november, missile defence, missile shield, nato members, predecessor, ria novosti, rogue states, russian officials, russian president, us counterpart