Russia talks tough on missile plan

Official threatens strong response if US rebuffs offer on missile shield.

bush putin
Putin, left, offered Bush a new missile plan earlier this week [AFP]

Kaliningrad lies on the Baltic Sea coast and is surrounded by Lithuania and Poland. It is not connected by land to the rest of Russia and the city of Kaliningrad is far closer to Warsaw than to Moscow.

 

Ivanov is in charge of Russia’s overall defence sector.
 
Russian plan

 

At a meeting earlier this week with George Bush, the US president, Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, proposed an expanded plan for missile defence co-operation that would involve Russia and Nato sharing data about missile launches from “rogue states”.

 

Putin said his proposal would remove the need for the United States to proceed with its plan to locate elements of a planned missile shield in Poland and the Czech Republic.

 
Washington says the shield is needed to protect from possible missile attacks from states such as North Korea and Iran.
 
Moscow has argued the shield is a threat to its own national security. Bush said he would study the Russian proposals, calling them “very innovative”, but he insisted the anti-missile system must still be based in eastern Europe.
Source: News Agencies