US calls on Russia to resume missile defence talks

Russia Today, November 11, 2008, 22:02

 
Washington says it wants to resume talks with Moscow over its missile defence plan in Eastern Europe. On Tuesday, Russia’s foreign minister confirmed the country’s position that if and when the US goes ahead with its plans to build elements of its AMD, Russia will deploy Iskander missiles in its westernmost enclave, Kaliningrad.
Speaking in Moscow, Sergey Lavrov said:

”Russia's position, as voiced by President Medvedev, is that if the U.S. goes ahead with its plans and actuallyinstals this radar in Europe, then one of the measures Russia will use to neutralise the inevitable threat to Russia's national security will be the deployment of Iskander missiles.”

”But only after the U.S. actually builds those radars,” he underlined.

The Iskander missiles Russia is proposing would be within striking distance of the planned U.S. sites.

Earlier, US president-elect Barack Obama reportedly told Poland that there was no guarantee the proposed anti-missile shield will be built. The move could indicate that the next American government is preparing to change policy on the controversial defence system.

Britain’s Daily Telegraph reported on Monday that Obama 'did not make any promises concerning the anti-missile shield' in a telephone conversation with the Polish president Lech Kaczynski.

The source said that officials in Warsaw believe that now the chances of the project going ahead stand at no more than "over 50 per cent".

Radek Sikorski, the Polish foreign minister, was also quoted as saying that the worsening state of the American economy might force the president-elect to abandon, or at least delay the programme, in favour of domestic priorities.

The news has given a boost to Moscow, which is vehemently opposed to the missile shield. Russia is expected to hold off reaching agreements on defence with the US until the new administration takes office in January.

"We have taken note of the U.S. president-elect Barack Obama's position on  these issues. It inspires the hope that we will be able to deal with them  more  constructively in the coming period," Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told journalists in Sharm El Sheikh on Sunday.
  
Lavrov also said Russia would be ready for extensive consultations on the issue before the end of the year, but that agreements concerning both strategic offensive weapons and missile defense "will surely be negotiated with a new U.S. administration".

Meanwhile, the current American leadership is urging Russia to continue talks on missile defence.

US State Department spokesman, Robert Wood, said Washington remained “interested in talking to Russia about missile defense and that they have nothing to fear from our missile defense system that we would like to set up in Europe".

Russia views US plans to install 10 interceptor missiles in Poland and a radar station in the Czech Republic as aggressive.  However, the US maintains that the system is aimed at countering future rogue threats from the Middle East and Iran in particular.

The US seems to have changed tack after President Medvedev's address to the Federal Assembly last week after the Russian leader said Moscow would be forced to place missiles in its westernmost Kaliningrad region, bordering Poland - if the U.S. went ahead with its planned bases in Poland and the Czech Republic.

U.S. hopes to soften Moscow missile stance

RT, November 9, 2008, 11:04

Officials in Moscow are considering new proposals received from Washington on the U.S. missile defence system in Eastern Europe. Discussions on these offerings, which include access for Russian monitors to the bases in Poland and the Czech Republic, are expected to take place in the next two weeks.
On November 6 the U.S. Under Secretary of Arms Control and International Security, John Rood, said his country had made a new offer to Moscow. It aimed to ease opposition to the planned American shield in Europe and contained proposals on finding a replacement to the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty which expires at the end of 2009.

On Wednesday, President Medvedev announced Russia would install its advanced short-range Iskander missiles in the country's western-most region, Kaliningrad, in order to counter the U.S. anti-missile shield.

Rood said that Medvedev’s announcement was disappointing. However, a Moscow-Washington dialogue on the issue would continue. He said he was going to meet his Russian counterpart in about two weeks to discuss missile defence as well as other topics, including a U.S. proposal to further limit strategic nuclear weapons on both sides.

Moscow has repeatedly expressed its opposition to U.S. plans to deploy ten interceptors in Poland and radar in the Czech Republic, saying it would threaten Russia's national security.

In 2002, the Bush administration abandoned the Cold-War era anti-ballistic missile treaty. Some experts say that Barack Obama may decide to revisit the plans and cut spending on the shield, which may ease current tensions with Russia.

Poland, however, says the U.S. will continue its strategic partnership in placing elements of its anti-missile defence system in the eastern European country.

A statement from the Polish President and Prime Minister's offices say U.S. President-elect Barack Obama has already assured the country's leaders of his intentions. The press office announcement says Obama stressed the importance of the strategic partnership between Washington and Warsaw.

The president-elect also said America's plans to install parts of its AMD system on Poland's territory are still in force.

In August, the USA signed an anti-missile defence treaty in which Poland agreed to host U.S. interceptor missiles on its territory.

Russia hopes to avoid arms race despite Western fears

RT, November 6, 2008, 23:09

Russia may deploy missiles in its most western region of Kaliningrad in response to the U.S. anti-missile defence plans in Europe. The announcement was followed by a wave of criticism from Western leaders. But some analysts believe the West has overlooked the fact that the scenario can still be avoided.
With a new administration coming into power in the U.S., it remains to be seen whether Barack Obama will pursue Bush’s policy of deploying AMD elements in Poland and the Czech Republic - or remember Russia’s suggestion to set up an alternative anti-missile system in Azerbaijan.

In June 2007 Vladimir Putin proposed to George W. Bush that the two countries could jointly use a radar station in Gabala, which Russia rents from Azerbaijan, and a new radar under construction in Russia’s southern city of Armavir. 

Back then Bush diplomatically hailed the idea - but made it clear the U.S. won’t renounce its plans. The result was the signing of an agreement with the Czech Republic and Poland in summer 2008 for deploying AMD elements on their territories.


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Obama has not yet voiced his view on the subject, but there are already voices among America’s intellectual elite that the U.S. needs to change its foreign policy.

Ted Carpenter from the Cato Institute in Washington DC believes the United States needs to significantly cut its military spending “so it does not have the kind of military capability that frightens other countries.”

“The U.S. also has to avoid taking steps that needlessly antogonise other countries. In particular with Russia it is imperative that the United States abandons its goal of expansion of the NATO alliance and to abandon such projects as the missile defence system that it has proposed for Eastern and Western Europe.”

For the time being, the United States says it is disappointed with Russia's intentions. The Pentagon has stated it will continue with the AMD plans and that its position remains the same.

Nevertheless, U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack made assurances that Washington is open for dialogue with Moscow.

And despite strong words from President Medvedev some experts believe this is just a bargaining tactic ahead of his first meeting with Obama next week at the summit in Washington.

Political analyst Vladimir Kuzin said: “The placement of the conventional missile Iskander has not been started yet, so before November 15, Moscow and Washington have some time to think it over.”

According to President Medvedev’s aide, Arkady Dvorkovich, consultations are taking place with George W. Bush and president-elect Barack Obama concerning their bilateral meetings with Medvedev in Washington, but no arrangement has yet been reached.

International reaction

German Vice-Chancellor Frank-Walter Steinmeier expressed concern that the deployment of Iskander would lead to a new arms race.

He said: “President Medvedev's comments are certainly the wrong signal at the wrong time. Just as in the past, I called on the U.S. administration to seek dialogue with Russia. In the case of missile defence, it is necessary that Russia recognises the opportunity to seek dialogue with the U.S. so as not to set any new arms race in motion here in Europe. This is important.”

Benita Ferrero-Waldner, the EU Commissioner for External Relations, shares Germany’s position.

“The deployment of missiles in Kaliningrad will not improve security in Europe. I am asking myself how such statements are compatible with a new security strategy in Europe proposed by the Russian president,” he said.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk sees Medvedev’s statement as an indication of Russia’s new aggressive policy.

“In the event that the situation gets bad, the balance of power is already well known," he said. "So we should consider the announcement as a new political step, not a military one”.

Iskander missile complex

The Iskander short-range missile complex, which could be set up in Kaliningrad, is capable of striking targets at a range of up to 300 kilometres. With the deployment of the system in Russia's exclave on the Baltic Sea, the territories of the Czech Republic, Poland and the Baltic States would be within striking distance of Russia.

Kaliningrad borders NATO and EU members Poland and Lithuania.