Russia doesn’t give up missile shield talks with U.S.

PanARMENIAN.Net - Russia does not give up missile shield talks with the United States, Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov said on Saturday, November 19, during the East Asia Summit.

"We are not closing the door in any case, we will continue working with the Americans within NATO-Russia Council, but we will continue working on the basis of our position that no-targeting guarantees are needed," Lavrov said.

"We do not evade the issue despite the fact that we do not see any progress in an unclear for us position of the U.S. which refuses to seal clear guarantees of no-targeting of this system against Russian strategic nuclear arsenal and refuse to work out relevant military, technical and other criteria aimed at providing such guarantees," he added, RIA Novosti reported.

In October, Moscow's NATO envoy Dmitry Rogozin said Russian talks with the United States on missile defense had hit a dead end.

The Kremlin says the U.S. expanding anti-missile system in Europe is a potential threat to Russian nuclear arsenal, while Washington tries to convince Moscow that the system poses no threat to Russia and is needed to protect against missiles that could be fired by countries with smaller arsenals such as Iran.

The missile shield dispute between Russia and the U.S. has undermined efforts to build on improvements in relations between the former Cold War foes and is intensified by Russia's uncertainty of U.S. policy after the November 2012 presidential elections.