CHISINAU (Reuters) -- Russia has said it was seeking clarification of "unexpected" remarks by a senior U.S. defense official that the United States was considering Ukraine as a place for stationing early-warning radar systems.
Alexander Vershbow, a U.S. assistant secretary of defense, was quoted in the magazine "Defense News" as saying Washington had added Ukraine to the list of possible early-warning sites as part of its refashioning of a European missile-defense system.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, speaking in the Moldovan capital, said: "The statement by Alexander Vershbow was rather unexpected. In principle, he is a person who is prone to extravagancies."
"We would like to receive full clarification," he told journalists.
In Kyiv, newly appointed Ukrainian Foreign Minister Petro Poroshenko, asked about the report that the United States sought to station missile systems in Ukraine, replied, "I think this is not constitutional."