Putin: American missile defense plan threatens US-Russian relations

Pravda, 10/12/2007

America should not install its missile defense system in Eastern Europe otherwise its relations with Moscow will be harmed, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday.

He also threatened to pull his country out of a Cold War-era treaty limiting intermediate range missiles unless it was extended to countries beyond the United States and Russia, which are now the only signatories.

Addressing U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Putin appeared to mock the U.S. missile defense plan, which is at the center of a tangle of arms control and diplomatic disputes between the former adversaries.

"We may decide someday to put missile defense systems on the moon, but before we get to that we may lose a chance for agreement because of you implementing your own plans," Putin said in Russian, according to an Associated Press translation.

Later, at the start of a meeting with Rice and Gates, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the Americans had presented "detailed proposals" to Putin on missile defense and arms control and a treaty on reducing conventional forces in Europe.

He offered no details but said the Russian government is ready to seek compromise, noting in particular Putin's eagerness to expand the treaty on intermediate missiles.

But both he and Rice said the two countries were committed to bridging those gaps.

"I know that we don't always see eye-to-eye on every element of the solutions to these issues," Rice said. "Nonetheless, I believe we will do this in a constructive spirit, that we will make progress during these talks as we continue to pursue cooperation."

The Russian government sees the U.S. missile defense plan, which Washington describes as a hedge against the threat of missile attack from Iran, as a worrisome step toward weakening Russian security. It has been a long-standing dispute, and Putin's remarks seemed to raise the level of tensions.

Rice and Gates appeared taken aback at the forcefulness of Putin's remarks, which were made in the presence of American and Russian news media before they began a closed-door meeting around an oval table in an ornate conference room at his country house outside the capital.

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