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Russian presence at US radar base on Czech soil still being debated
Dec 6, 2007, 17:12 GMT
Prague - The United States is still negotiating with Russia about a possible presence of Russian experts in the planned US missile shield site on Czech soil, CTK news agency reported Thursday citing US Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Fried.
However, Fried added that any such deal would have to be approved by the Czech Republic. 'We are not talking on behalf of the Czech Republic. We can't propose anything about your country without you,' CTK cited him as saying.
Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov Wednesday criticized Washington for withdrawing its October offer to allow long-term Russian inspections at the planned US missile shield facilities in Central Europe.
The US proposal angered many Czechs, including supporters of the US missile defence plans, as a Russian military presence is unwelcome in a country occupied by Soviet troops between 1968 and 1991.
US officials subsequently sought to tone down the offer, and Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek repeated to reporters that no Russian soldier would return to the Czech Republic.
The US and Czech negotiators also agreed that visitors would be allowed to enter the US base only with Czech Republic's consent.
The US plans to place a tracking radar in the Czech Republic and 10 interceptor missiles in Poland for its missile shield have infuriated Russia, which claims the system's European arm is aimed at its nuclear arsenal.
The US has countered that the shield is aimed at preventing so- called rogue states such as Iran from proliferating long-range missiles.
To ease Russian concerns, US Defence Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice proposed to their Russian counterparts a package of proposals in mid October. The two countries have so far failed to smooth over their dispute.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-AgenturCOMMENT
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...Dec 7th, 2007 - 09:56:42
Actually i would expect that the USA and the Czech Republic negotiate with Russia on the missile shield.
Instead i have to read that ONLY the USA and Russia negotiate a possible presence of russian military on czech soil. Direct talks between Russia and the USA ? Isnt that somewhat.....revealing ?
Its really neat that the Czech Republic will have the last say on that matter but discussing the possible deployment of foreign soldiers on Czech soil without direct Czech participation in this discussion itself is so shamelessly arrogant that the czech NO is already certain before the talks even reached their logical end.
They couldnt make any clearer that the Czech Republic is just a pawn in their diplomatic powerplay. If they say no, the USA will move on to someone else. Maybe Slovakia ? Maybe Hungary ?
The USA's current government really knows how to turn public against itself, in the USA and other countries aswell. lol
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