VIENNA, May 23: Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday consultations with Washington had failed to change Russia's opposition to US plans for a missile defence shield in eastern Europe.
“As a result of those contacts we had with our American partners, there have been no changes in our position and there cannot be any as we have not heard anything new,” Mr Putin told a news conference on a visit to Austria.
“We believe it is an absolutely harmful thing,” Mr Putin said, indicating he had been unmoved by a flurry of US diplomatic moves to win Moscow round.
Russia views the US plan to base 10 missile interceptors in Poland and radar in the Czech Republic from 2012 as a major threat to its national security.
Washington says the system is needed to defend Europe and US forces there against states like Iran and North Korea.
Russian politicians say the US plan could disrupt European stability and fuel a new Cold War-style arms race.
Moscow's top brass say the missile shield does not pose any immediate military threat for Russia, but warn that Russia will have to develop new anti-missile technology to counter it.
Missile defence is at the top of a list of issues, including the Iraq invasion and competition for allies in the former Soviet Union, that are straining ties between Moscow and Washington.
In Vienna, Mr Putin said the missile shield was ‘not born out of necessity or the real situation, either in Europe or the world’.
“What is happening in Europe that is so negative that we need to fill eastern Europe with new forms of weapons?” he said.
“What has happened that has worsened the situation in Europe and demands such actions? Nothing.”
NO COOPERATION: US officials have staged a round of diplomatic contacts to try to soften Russian opposition to the project.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defence Secretary Robert Gates visited Moscow for talks, briefing Russian officials on the plans and offering broad cooperation with Russia in strategic missile defence.
But Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov told reporters in Moscow that Russia has no intention of cooperating with the United States on its plans for the shield.—Reuters
VIENNA, May 23: Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday consultations with Washington had failed to change Russia's opposition to US plans for a missile defence shield in eastern Europe.
