Russian negotiator warns NATO over missile defence plans

Sep 2, 2011, 10:55 GMT

Moscow - A top Kremlin defence official on Friday warned NATO that if it goes ahead with a controversial missile defence plan for Europe, Russia will retaliate.

'One way or another, Russia's security will be fully defended,' said Dmitry Rogozin, a special representative to the Russian president.

'There will be a response,' said Rogozin, who has frequently attracted international attention with his outspoken remarks in his capacity as Russian ambassador to NATO.

Rogozin's said Russian and NATO negotiators were working on a joint declaration on regional missile defence which could head off a regional arms race and go far towards keeping East and Central Europe stable.

'The more our diplomats manage to obtain in the talks with the US and NATO, the less will be our military response,' Rogozin told the Interfax news agency. 'The less they obtain ... the more substantial will be the Russian response.'

The joint US-Russia declaration was likely to be signed 'soon,' but the degree to which it would settle regional tensions is still not clear, Rogozin said.

Russia wants 'effective, long-term, and hard guarantees that such (anti-missile) capacity is not directed against Russian strategic interests,' he said.

Rogozin's comments were among the most outspoken yet by a senior Russian official on the US initiative to deploy interceptor missiles and detection systems to Poland and the Czech republic.

NATO says the missile defence system is needed to protect NATO nations from a missile fired from the Middle East.

Russian diplomats have repeatedly criticised the idea, saying no Middle Eastern nation possesses a missile capable of hitting NATO countries.

Interceptor missiles deployed in Eastern Europe would, on the other hand, be able to shoot down Russian missiles aimed at Europe and the US, and so give NATO a massive advantage in a potential confrontation with Russia, Kremlin officials argue.

Possible Russian counter-measures could include positioning nuclear-tipped missiles in Russia's Kaliningrad province, as well as the redeployment of heavy conventional forces to Belarus and west Russia of a scale not seen since the end of the Cold War, Russian political observers have said.

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