BRUSSELS — New missiles will not be deployed in the Kaliningrad enclave now that the United States has dropped plans to build an anti-missile shield in Poland and the Czech Republic, Russia's envoy to NATO said on Friday.
Dmitry Rogozin also welcomed a proposal from NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen for more cooperation with Russia on anti-missile systems.
"It was very positive, very constructive and we have to analyze together all the sec-gen's proposals for the new beginning of NATO-Russia cooperation," Rogozin told a news conference.
On Russian plans to deploy medium-range missiles in Kaliningrad, which borders Poland and Lithuania, he said: "I hope you can understand logic ... if we have no radars or no missiles in the Czech Republic and Poland, we don't need to find some response."
NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen urged the Western alliance and Russia to consider linking their defensive missile systems in a policy speech Friday, as well as said that Russia should join other global powers in pressing Iran to abandon its nuclear aspirations.
Rasmussen said NATO and Russia have a shared interest in combating the proliferation of intercontinental ballistic missile technology in other countries.
"If North Korea stays nuclear and if Iran becomes nuclear, some of their neighbors might feel compelled to follow their example," Rasmussen said in a policy speech.
The secretary-general also encouraged Russia to play a role in exerting pressure on Iran to give up its nuclear program.
"What I would expect is that Russia will join us in putting maximum political and diplomatic pressure on Iran to stop Iran's nuclear aspirations," he said.
(Reuters, Associated Press)
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