NATO and Russia clashed again Wednesday over the alliance's plan to build a missile defense system, but NATO's leader said he is optimistic the two sides can iron out their differences in time for a summit next May. NATO's Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the military alliance and Russia "are coming closer to reaching agreement" on principles for cooperating by creating two separate missile defense systems - one NATO and one Russian - that could exchange information.
But Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov told the Interfax news agency that the idea of linked Russian and NATO missile shields "doesn't suit us" and could spark a fresh arms race. The U.S. says the shield would fend off Iranian missile threats and isn't aimed against Russia, but Moscow wants legal guarantees on that. Russia sees the U.S.-led missile defense plans as a potential threat to its security. It agreed to consider NATO's proposal last fall to cooperate on the missile shield, but insisted the system be run jointly. NATO rejected that demand and no compromise has been found yet.
The ITAR TASS news agency quoted Serdyukov saying that the NATO system will "neutralize Russia's strategic capabilities." Fogh Rasmussen and Serdyukov spoke separately after their meeting. Fogh Rasmussen urged Russia to "engage in positive cooperation with NATO and focus on real security challenges instead of some ghosts of the past that do not exist any longer." "It will be hard work, but I am still optimistic - I think at the end of the day we can reach a solution," he said.
Despite his warnings, Serdyukov said the talks will continue. "We haven't yet tried every possibility with NATO," Serdyukov said. "There should be ways that meet the demands of Russia and the other side," he said. "There is simply no other way otherwise we could find ourselves back in the times that we were developing the arms race."
Source: OfficialWire
