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NATO and Russia have serious differences with respect to the project for a US/NATO missile shield in Europe, according to Dmitry Rogozin, Russian Permanent Representative to the Alliance.
In Rogozin's interview published by the Russian paper Izvestiya a day before the start of NATO's summit in Lisbon, which is supposed to provide many answers about the future of the missile defense in Europe, Rogozin says Russia and NATO have had "hard" conversations about the proposed system.
The original version of the missile defense system put forth by the Bush Administration provided for placing a radar in the Czech Republic and interceptor missiles in Poland. The Obama Administration modified this plan, partly in order to alleviate Russia's security concerns, to relocate the land-based components of the system to Southeastern Europe with Bulgaria, Romania, and Turkey all being potential locations for some of its elements.
The Lisbon Summit of NATO taking place November 19-20, 2010, is expected to adopt the US project as a NATO-wide initiative. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will also be attending the summit.
In his interview for "Izvestiya", Rogozin reveals that Russia insists on certain restrictions to the future missile shield, and that Russia's potential inclusion in the system will require serious concessions on part of the North Atlantic Alliance.
"We tried to convince the Americans that it is necessary to agree on restrictions about the missile defense system – on the zones for locating elements, the number of the interceptor missiles, and the speed of the interceptor missiles," Rogozin says.
In his words, Russia still sees the US/NATO missile defense plan as being too grand, and incommensurate with the level of threat.
"It is like killing a fly on the head of your friend with a hammer," says the Russian representative to NATO, who in Bulgaria is known for describing Sofia as Russia's Trojan horse into NATO and the EU back in 2008.
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