ZURICH — Nikolai Makarov, the chief of the General Staff, said Monday that plans to deploy missiles in Kaliningrad had not been shelved, despite a decision by the United States to rethink plans for missile defense in Europe.
Makarov told reporters on a plane from Moscow to Zurich that it was up to President Dmitry Medvedev to decide whether to scrap the plan.
On Saturday, Deputy Defense Minister Vladimir Popovkin said the military would withdraw a threat to deploy the missiles in Kaliningrad.
It was not immediately clear why Makarov had contradicted Popovkin publicly on the sensitive issue, but some sources suggested he might have wanted to emphasize that such an important decision could only be made by the president and should not be announced by a deputy minister.
(Reuters)
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