Russia says U.S. missile defense plans hamper arms cuts

PanARMENIAN.Net - Russia will not start a new round of talks on further arms reductions until Washington changes its stance on the global deployment of U.S. missile defenses, especially in Europe, a senior Russian diplomat said, according to RIA Novosti.

“Our position is that in order to move forward [in nuclear and conventional arms cuts] we should implement the existing agreements [especially in the framework of the New START treaty],” Grigory Berdennikov, the Russian envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency, said.

“But how are we supposed to move forward if the United States refuses to curb its missile defenses?” he said.

The missile defense issue has become a major stumbling block in the announced “reset” of relations between Moscow and Washington.

Russia retains staunch opposition to the planned deployment of U.S. missile defense systems near its borders, claiming they would be a security threat. The United States and NATO insist that the so-called “missile shield” would defend NATO members against missiles from North Korea and Iran and would not be directed at Russia.

Moscow insists it should receive legal guarantees from Washington that its European missile defense shield will not target Russia's strategic nuclear forces.