US proposal doesn't fly in Russia

This is from presstv.ir

Russia for its part has refrained from placing missiles in Kalliningrad as a response to the US missiled defence system. Obama is reviewing the whole program. It is quite possible that he may decide that it will not work or is not worth all the trouble independently of what happens between Iran and Russia. However using the issue as a bargaining chip is worth a try I suppose!



US proposal pops no eyes out in Russia Sun, 15 Feb 2009 10:52:47 GMT

The Russian flag flies at half mast at the Kremlin where the prevailing belief is that the idea of Iran posing a missile threat is a fairy tale.Russia promises not to change its stance on Iran in spite of US efforts to reach a compromise with the Kremlin over its missile shield. In an exclusive interview on Sunday, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexei Borodavkin asserted that under no circumstances would Moscow agree to jeopardize its constantly improving economic, industrial, nuclear and technical cooperation with Tehran. "The Kremlin sees no reason to change its policy toward Iran," IRNA quoted Borodavkin as saying. His claims come amid Washington efforts to employ plans to deploy a missile defense system in Europe as a bargaining chip to woo Russia against Iran. A senior US officials speaking on condition of anonymity had touched on the issue on Friday, saying that Washington would slow down its missile plans on the condition that Moscow joins the White House in pressuring Tehran over its nuclear activities. Washington has spearheaded accusations that Iran, a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), is pursuing a military nuclear program. Iran, however, says it enriches uranium for civilian applications and that it has a right to the technology already in the hands of many others. "If we are able to work together to dissuade Iran from pursuing a nuclear weapons capability, we would be able to moderate the pace of development of missile defenses in Europe," Reuters quoted the US official as saying on the issue. "The impetus for the deployment of the missile defense systems is the threat from Iran. If it is possible to address that then that needs to be taken into consideration as you look at the deployment of the system," the official said. The Bush administration strived to portray Iran's uranium enrichment program, missile development and space quest as threats to world stability in an attempt to justify its plans to station 10 silo-based missiles in Poland and a missile-tracking radar in the Czech Republic. Russia has remained stoutly opposed to the US missile bid, threatening to respond by installing short-rage Iskander-M missiles in Kaliningrad -- a small strategic exclave near Poland. Moscow has refused to follow Washington's lead in isolating Iran, criticizing the US pursuit as a "creeping American strategy of dragging the global community into a large-scale crisis around Iran." The Kremlin has also dismissed contentions that Tehran should be considered as a threat. "No sensible person believes in fairy tales about the Iranian missile threat, and that thousands of kilometers from Tehran on the coast of the Baltic Sea, it is necessary to station a missile interceptor system," Russia's NATO envoy Dmitry Rogozin said on Nov. 6.