Agence France-Presse,
Washington: The United States has gone as far as it can to allay Russian opposition to US missile defense plans in Europe, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday.
Gates' comments came after Moscow rejected US concessions on its plans for missile interceptors in Poland and a radar in the Czech Republic, including an offer to delay making the sites operational until an Iranian missile threat is proven.
“I guess my view is I think we've leaned about as far forward as we can. We've offered a lot. And my view is, now I want to see some movement on their part,” Gates told reporters as he flew back from Europe.
He said the US proposals “represent a very forward-leaning posture in terms of partnering with the Russians.”
“And I think the question is whether the Russians are serious about partnering with us, or whether this is merely a pose to try and stop us from going forward with the Czech Republic and Poland,” he said.
Earlier, Russian Defence Minister Viktor Serdyukov said the US proposals were not enough to satisfy Russian concerns.
“All that has been proposed to us does not satisfy us, our position remains the same,” the ITAR-TASS and Interfax news agency quoted Serdyukov as saying at a meeting of NATO defence ministers in the Netherlands.
During a visit to Moscow earlier this month, Gates and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice proposed a regional missile defense scheme that would include Russia as well as NATO.
They proposed posting Russian liaison officers at US missile defense sites as well as at the radar site in the Czech Republic if Prague agreed.
During a visit to Prague on Tuesday, Gates went further and said the United States would delay making the European site fully operational until there was “definitive proof of the threat.”
