Medvedev: No missile deployment if Obama drops anti-missile shield

Nov 13, 2008, 8:03 GMT

Paris - Russia will not deploy missiles in its European enclave of Kaliningrad if US president-elect Barack Obama cancels the planned American anti-missile defence system, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said in an interview published Thursday in the French daily Le Figaro.

'We are prepared to drop our decision to deploy missiles at Kaliningrad if the new American administration decides to abandon its anti-missile system,' Medvedev said.

He noted that, based on early reactions, Obama was 'thinking about it.'

In a response to the US anti-missile defence system, Medvedev has threatened to deploy short-range Iskander missiles in Kaliningrad.

The Russian president said Moscow was willing to consider 'a global defence system with the United States, the EU nations and the Russian Federation.'

His comments in the French daily, which is close to the administration of President Nicolas Sarkozy, were published ahead of an EU-Russia summit to be held Friday in Nice.

Medvedev accused Washington of having planned its anti-missile system 'without having acquired the consent of Europe and its NATO partners,' and said the issue was 'a real problem.'

Regarding Friday's summit, he emphasized that Russia and Europe were mutually dependent on each other.

'We need reciprocal investments. Europe is the biggest consumer of Russian energy, we are the biggest customers of European technology and commodities,' Medvedev said.

Earlier this week, EU foreign ministers decided to reopen negotiations with Moscow on a strategic treaty after freezing talks because of the conflict in Georgia.