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Tucson, Arizona | Published: 04.20.2007
BRUSSELS, Belgium — The United States tried to overcome Russian objections to the planned extension of U.S. anti-missile defenses in Europe Thursday, offering to work with Moscow in countering the threat of long-range missile attack.
"I cannot conclude that we agree on everything," NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said after talks between NATO allies and Russia failed to yields an agreement. "On the threat perception there is clearly a divide."
Russia's ambassador to NATO, Gen. Konstantin Totsky, said Moscow would study a package of measures presented by the U.S. this week to boost cooperation on missile defense — including shared early warning data, joint research, production and exercises.
However in Russia, First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov dismissed the offer. "I honestly see no grounds to talk about potential cooperation on strategic missile defense," the Interfax news agency quoted Ivanov as saying.
Russia has not been swayed by U.S. assurances that Iran and other potential threats in the Middle East are the target of the proposal to expand strategic missile defenses, currently based in Alaska and California, by deploying interceptor rockets in Poland and radar scanners in the Czech Republic.
De Hoop Scheffer said the 26 NATO allies backed Washington's assertions that the bases in central Europe would not pose a threat to Russia, despite concerns previously expressed by European officials about the plan's impact on relations with Moscow.
NATO allies have also been studying the possibility of jointly developing a strategic missile defense shield since 2004, but the talks have been bogged down by differences over costs, politics and effectiveness. Meanwhile, the United States has pushed ahead in developing its own system to counter advances in missile technology by potentially hostile states such as Iran or North Korea.
NATO allies and Russia will resume discussions on the issue next week a meeting of foreign ministers in Oslo, Norway.
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