Russia abandons plans for rocket battery as Obama scraps missile shield!
MOSCOW, Russia - September 18, 2009 - Russia has produced the first tangible response to Barack Obama's controversial decision to scrap an Amerikan missile defense shield in Eastern Europe by abandoning its own plans for a rocket battery.
The decision by Moscow came today as Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin praised Obama's move as “brave”.
The Russian medium-range missiles had been due to be placed in Kaliningrad, a Russian enclave that borders Nato members Poland and Lithuania.
President Dmitry Medvedev had said that the Iskander missiles could be used “if necessary” to “neutralize” the Amerikan shield.
He ordered the missiles' deployment last November as a response to the U.S. missile shield.
“I hope you can understand the logic,” said Russia's NATO envoy Dmitry Rogozin today. “If we have no (Amerikan) radars or no missiles in the Czech Republic and Poland, we don't need to find some response.”
“I do believe that it is possible for NATO and Russia to make a new beginning and to enjoy a far more productive relationship in the future,” NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said in a speech in Brussels.
“We should explore the potential for linking the U.S., NATO and Russian missile defense systems at an appropriate time.”
Obama scrapped the Amerikan missile shield, a darling of the Bush regime nominally intended to act as a nuclear deterrent in Europe to countries such as Iran, yesterday.
The decision by Moscow came today as Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin praised Obama's move as “brave”.
The Russian medium-range missiles had been due to be placed in Kaliningrad, a Russian enclave that borders Nato members Poland and Lithuania.
President Dmitry Medvedev had said that the Iskander missiles could be used “if necessary” to “neutralize” the Amerikan shield.
He ordered the missiles' deployment last November as a response to the U.S. missile shield.
“I hope you can understand the logic,” said Russia's NATO envoy Dmitry Rogozin today. “If we have no (Amerikan) radars or no missiles in the Czech Republic and Poland, we don't need to find some response.”
“I do believe that it is possible for NATO and Russia to make a new beginning and to enjoy a far more productive relationship in the future,” NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said in a speech in Brussels.
“We should explore the potential for linking the U.S., NATO and Russian missile defense systems at an appropriate time.”
Obama scrapped the Amerikan missile shield, a darling of the Bush regime nominally intended to act as a nuclear deterrent in Europe to countries such as Iran, yesterday.
