PITTSBURGH — President Dmitry Medvedev said Friday that he would call off his decision to deploy missiles in Kaliningrad, his response to the United States scrapping missile shield plans in Europe.
U.S. President Barack Obama announced Sept. 17 that Washington would not put interceptor missiles in Poland or a radar system in the Czech Republic, parts of a project viewed by the United States as protection against potential attacks from Iran.
Medvedev had vowed to put Iskander missiles in the exclave of Kaliningrad, bordering Poland, if Washington went ahead with the plan.
“When I announced this decision, I said it was a reaction to the creation of a third positioning region,” Medvedev said in Pittsburgh, where he attended a summit of the Group of 20.
“Now that this decision was scrapped, I will make a decision not to deploy Iskanders in the appropriate region of our country,” he said.
Polish President Lech Kaczynski, meanwhile, said his worst fears were realized when Obama scrapped the missile defense plan. “There were two scenarios, and the other scenario, the second one, which was worse from the point of view of Poland, came into being,” he said in an interview Thursday.
Asked about any contact with Russian officials, he replied, “No. Contact with the Russians in this particular sphere is very complicated.”