U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Fried
Photo: AP
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U.S. Evaluates Russian Missile Defense Proposal
The United States considers the alternative suggestion made by Russian President Vladimir Putin to its Eastern Europe missile defense plans valuable, even though it remains committed to facilities in the Czech Republic and Poland, where it plans to position ten interceptor missiles. “We find President Putin's proposal intriguing and very interesting,” U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Fried told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, according to a report by Reuters.
Putin at the G8 summit in Heiligendamm, Germany, suggested that the Americans use the Gabala radar station, which Russia rents in Azerbaijan, for its missile defense monitoring, rather than build facilities in the Czech Republic.
“The point is the Russians have now acknowledged there may be a need for some system and that Iran or that region is a source of potential problems,” Fried said after the committee session. He said the focus should be “not just the one radar but how it could be part of systems being considered and how these things could be combined in a way that could enhance everyone's security.”
Fried also took the occasion to note the “steady deterioration of democratic practices” on Russia and stressed the need to avoid a “rhetorical race to the bottom.”
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