Russia's talks with the West on missile defense are "going nowhere," Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Wednesday, staking out a tough position in a dispute the United States wants to resolve before elections next year in both nations.
The blunt remark seemed aimed to emphasize that Russia is unswayed by assiduous U.S. efforts to convince the Kremlin that a European missile shield Washington and its NATO allies are beginning to build poses no threat to Russia's security.
Russian interaction with NATO is going well with the exception of the issue of missile defense, "on which, unfortunately, we are going nowhere," Lavrov told a news conference after a meeting with his counterpart from Luxembourg.
(Reuters)
