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  • Jan 23rd, 2010
  • Comments Off on Russian foreign minister criticises US missile defence plans
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Friday rejected the idea of working with the US on missile defence, and criticised the current US plans to station missiles near Poland's border with Russia. Lavrov told journalists in Moscow that co-operation with the United States on missile defence could only come into question after both countries had together assessed the threats from unstable regions.

"The first step will be a joint task to reveal the regions which could pose such risks and threats, and later, on the next stages, we will jointly ... consider military and technical means to attentively monitor these threats and counter them by political, diplomatic, economic or other means, if needed," Lavrov was quoted by the Ria Novosti news agency as saying.

Focusing on Iran alone was a wrong idea, he said. The Russian foreign minister further criticised US President Barack Obama's modified missile defence plans, including the Patriot missile battery to be based in Morag, a town just 100 kilometres from the Russian border.

Moscow felt an explanation was called for, Lavrov said. "Perhaps there are some reasons why these batteries will be deployed where they will be. The question is why something has to be done that creates the impression that Poland is strengthening against Russia. That is something I don't understand." The US-Russian negotiations on a new nuclear arms reduction treaty would continue in early February, Lavrov said. The START nuclear arms reduction treaty expired in early December.

Copyright Deutsche Presse-Agentur, 2010


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