During a September 2 meeting with NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, French President Nicolas Sarkozy held out for closer NATO-Russia cooperation in creating a joint missile defense system.

“The NATO missile defense system can have an additional role to, but not be a substitute for the French nuclear deterrent. The President endorsed the proposal for cooperation with Russia on this matter,” Voice of Russia reported, quoting the French presidential press service.

Turkey's Foreign Ministry said in a statement issued on September 1 that an agreement was reached agreement on the deployment of a radar in the country as part of NATO's missile defense system.

NATO members agreed to an anti-missile system over Europe to protect against Iranian ballistic missiles at a summit in Lisbon last year. A compromise was reached with Turkey, which has cultivated close ties with its neighbor Iran and had threatened to block the deal if Iran is explicitly named as a threat.