Foreign Minister Nikolay Mladenov has described a suggestion to station Russian missiles in Bulgaria as “extremely not serious.”

Mladenov commented on the idea recently put forth by Russian general and strategic studies scholar Vladimir Dvorkin that the full-fledged cooperation between NATO and Russia on missile defense in Europe would require stationing Russian missiles in Bulgaria and Romania.

Dvorkin has proposed the stationing of Russian missiles S-300 in the two Balkans countries so that they can be used as interceptors within the potential missile shield.

Bulgaria’s Foreign Minister Nikolay Mladenov made his laconic remark about the idea of the Russian expert after his meeting with US Deputy State Secretary James Steinberg in Sofia. Later on Thursday Steinberg was also welcomed by the Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov.

“Bulgaria decides its matters within its own family: its security matters within NATO, and its economic matters – within the EU,” Mladenov elaborated on his comment about the proposed stationing of Russian missiles in Bulgaria.

Both Mladenov and the US Deputy State Secretary James Steinberg, however, emphasized that the missile shield door was opened for Russia to join as soon as all debates within NATO are completed and the Alliance reaches a decision.

A number of NATO officials, including Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, have expressed their expectations that during its summit in Lisbon in November 2010, NATO will adopt as a project of its own the US plan for a missile defense in Europe.