No veto on NATO missile shield – U.S. Secretary of State

PanARMENIAN.Net - Russia cannot expect to have a veto on NATO plans to deploy a missile defence system in Europe, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Thursday, Dec 8 pledging to 'press forward' with the project despite Moscow's warnings of a fresh arms race.

“We have explained through multiple channels that our planned system will not and cannot threaten Russia's strategic deterrent,” she told reporters following a meeting with her NATO counterparts and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

“That said, no ally within NATO is going to give any other country outside the alliance a veto over whether NATO protects itself by building a missile defence system against the threats that we perceive are the most salient,” she added.

Clinton also insisted that Moscow had nothing to worry about since the shield “is not about Russia, it is frankly about Iran and other state or non-state actors who are seeking to develop threatening missile technology.”