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By Country / Azerbaijan

Russian General: U.S. Will Reject Russian Shield Offer

June 21, 2007

General Yury Baluyevsky (file) (AFP)

General Yury Baluyevsky (file) (AFP)

June 21, 2007 - Russia's top general says the United States has already made up its mind to set up a missile-defense system in Central Europe and "will turn down" a Russian offer to share a radar station in Azerbaijan.


"In my view ... the question of placing elements of the missile-defense system in Europe has already been decided by Washington," the chief of Russia's general staff, General Yury Baluyevsky, told a news conference. "The initiative put forward by Russia will not receive a positive response from the current U.S. administration."


President Vladimir Putin suggested earlier this month that a U.S. missile-defense system could use a radar station in Azerbaijan.


The offer came amid a row over U.S. plans -- opposed by Moscow -- to site parts of the system in Poland and the Czech Republic.


Russia says the missile shield is a threat to its national security and has warned it could respond by aiming its nuclear missiles at European targets.


Putin and U.S. President George W. Bush are expected to discuss the issue early next month when they meet in the United States.


(Reuters, AFP)
 
 
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Moscow And Washington: Toe To Toe

U.S. President George W. Bush (left) and Russian President Vladimir Putin at the G8 summit in Germany on June 7 (AFP)

MOUNTING TENSIONS. Relations between Russia and the United States have grown increasingly tense in recent months as issues like missile-defense, Kosovo's status, and Russia's domestic policies have provoked sharp, public differences. On June 5, U.S. President George W. Bush said democratic reforms in Russia have been "derailed"....(more)


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