Source: Global Security Newswire, July 29, 2011
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev must take up with President Obama the demand for written assurances that Russia would not be a focus of a planned European missile shield, as a lower-level campaign has failed to produce such a pledge, Interfax on Wednesday quoted a senior Kremlin diplomat as saying (see GSN, July 27).
The Obama administration intends to field increasingly advanced land- and sea-based missile interceptors around Europe as a declared hedge against possible Iranian missile attacks. That "phased adaptive approach" would be folded into a wider NATO effort -- agreed to at a November 2010 summit in Lisbon, Portugal -- to enhance and connect individual alliance member states' antimissile operations. Washington has said the missile shield would not be aimed against Russia but Moscow has demanded a legally binding pledge of that assurance, according to previous reports.
"As of the end of July, there has been little progress in the negotiations on important components, such as our demand of guarantees that the U.S. missile defense system is not targeted against our strategic nuclear forces," Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told the newspaper Kommersant.
Still, "there are no grounds for pessimism," the official said. "We have lacked experience in holding negotiations on missile defense issues since the 1970s. And the experience we gained with the George W. Bush administration was not very successful."
The Russian and U.S. presidents would address the issue in upcoming dialogue, Ryabkov said.
"Contact between President Medvedev and President Obama will be made in the fall. We expect the American leader to come to Russia by the end of the year," he said.
Obama and Medvedev might speak at the upcoming Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Honolulu or the Group of 20 nations summit in Cannes, France, if the U.S. president does not travel to Russia sooner, Ryabkov said. "But we surely would like a visit, because it gives the opportunity to discuss the entire agenda of our relations fundamentally. Such a conversation is essential to stimulate dialogue on security issues as well," the official said (Interfax I, July 27).
Russia's ties with NATO could suffer if the sides fail to resolve the dispute before the alliance convenes its May 2012 summit, Russian Ambassador to NATO Dmitry Rogozin said.
"The European missile defense architecture should be approved by the end of this year. The plan will be finalized at the next NATO summit in Chicago in the middle of May next year," Rogozin told the Voice of Russia. "If by that time Russia does not discover itself as an invited nation in this missile defense architecture, this will cause great problems in our relations."
"We believe the only true compromise could be deployment of the fire system of U.S. missile defense at a distance from Russia's borders equal to their range," if NATO does not accept Russia's proposal for a collaborative defensive framework, the envoy said.
While the Obama administration has maintained the antimissile scheme would not target Russia, the plan would allow the U.S. president's eventual successor to "get hold of an overly flexible system which under certain circumstances may be directed against Russia," said Rogozin, who recently met with U.S. officials and lawmakers during a trip to the United States.
"The meetings that we had in the Senate with the Republican minority leaders clearly showed that this part of the American political establishment does not intend to have any business with the Russian Federation and tries to use its hatred for the incumbent master of the White House to actually spoil relations on a global scale," Rogozin said (Interfax II, July 27).
Separately, Rogozin said Moscow opposes the potential placement of U.S. antimissile components "in the Black Sea and in the region even if they do not infringe upon our interests,” ITAR-Tass reported.
No justification exists for fielding missile defenses in the area, the official said.
"I wouldn’t like if the Black Sea turned out to be full of ships of countries, which had no relation to the region, under the pretext of developing the missile defense system in Europe," he said.
Turkey reportedly has planned to host for NATO a missile-tracking radar, possibly in its southeastern territory, to "monitor an area covering several thousands of kilometers to the east and to the west," Rogozin said (see GSN, July 27).
“Our American friends said they were not planning to deploy stationary antiballistic missiles in Turkey. However, if cruisers equipped with such arms stay even in five kilometers of Turkey’s seacoast (taking into account their range of 2-2.5 kilometers), the same thing is to deploy arms in the republic,” he said (ITAR-Tass, July 28).
Meanwhile, a senior U.S. diplomat said Washington's antimissile plans for Europe are not cause for Russian concern, Interfax reported.
The United States had no intention of using missile defenses to undermine Russia's nuclear deterrent, even ahead of the New START arms control pact's finalization, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Rose Gottemoeller told Kommersant in remarks published on Wednesday (see GSN, July 28). An antimissile framework is intended to counter a small-scale nuclear offensive, she said (Interfax III, July 27).
The administration would not accede to any deal limiting U.S. antimissile options, President Obama's nominee a high-level diplomatic post told Senator Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) last week.
The United States and Russia are seeking to "develop an understanding" on credible collaborative efforts, the Washington Times quoted Deputy Secretary of State-nominee William Burns as saying in a written response to an inquiry by Kyl.
“One element of this understanding would be that U.S. missile defenses in Europe are intended to counter threats originating outside Europe and are not directed at Russia,” Burns said.
“We have made clear that we cannot accept any limits on capabilities of U.S. missile defenses, including any limits on numbers or capabilities of interceptors (including speed),” he wrote (Bill Gertz, Washington Times, July 27).