US plays down Russian warning on missile shield

Olivier Knox
AFP
Wednesday, July 9, 2008

The United States urged Russia on Wednesday to join its planned missile defence as "equal partners" and played down a warning from Moscow that it might react militarily to the system.

"We seek strategic cooperation on preventing missiles from rogue nations like Iran from threatening our friends and allies," said White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe. "We will continue to have a dialogue with the Russians."

"We want to design a system between the United States, Russia and Europe, with everyone participating as equal partners," Johndroe said on the margins of a rich nations summit at this mountain resort in northern Japan.

Washington says it needs to base interceptor missiles in Europe to form a shield to stop possible attacks by states like Iran or North Korea.

US President George W. Bush and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev clashed on the controversial plan on Monday, in their first face-to-face talks since the Russian leader took office in May.

And Russia warned Tuesday that it would react militarily if Washington erected installations on its Cold War turf, hours after US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice signed a deal to base some components in the Czech Republic.

Full article here.

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