Agence France-Presse,
WASHINGTON: The United States and Russia hit an impasse on missile defense in Europe Thursday with the US defense secretary saying Washington has gone as far as it can to placate Moscow.
US Defense Secretary Robert Gates' comments came after Moscow rejected US concessions on its plans for missile interceptors in Poland and a radar in the Czech Republic, which included a delay in making them 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 Defense 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.
Gates' tougher tone came amid rising US tensions with Iran and a warning by President George W. Bush on Tuesday that missile defenses were urgently needed to defend Europe against the Iranian threat.
“The need for missile defense in Europe is real, and I believe it is urgent,” Bush said, in a speech at the National Defense University that was interpreted as being at odds with Gates' more conciliatory approach.
During a visit to Moscow earlier this month, Gates and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice presented the Russians with ideas for 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.
Gates went further during a trip to Prague on Tuesday and said the United States would delay making the European site fully operational until there was “definitive proof of the threat.”
He said Russian leaders have made clear that they recognize that Iran poses a security threat, but differ with Washington on how long it will take them to develop progressively longer range missiles.
A senior US defense official, who briefed reporters in Washington this week, said the US side had offered to tie the activation of the system to a common understanding with the Russians of what would constitute a proven Iranian threat.
“What we are saying is we're prepared to sit down with Russia and discuss what we would both regard as indications of increasing capability” of Iran's missiles, the official said.
“We would set out what the milestones would be so we're not dealing with competing projections,” he said.
Gates and US defense officials have said Russian President Vladimir Putin was intrigued enough by the proposals to agree to experts meetings and a follow-on round of talks at the level of defense and foreign ministers.
Although Serdyukov appeared to pour cold water on the US ideas at a briefing with Russian media, he was quoted as saying that Washington was “beginning to better understand our concerns.”
Russia sees the US missile defense plans as a military encroachment in its former sphere of influence that could be turned against Russia's own nuclear deterrence.
The United States, which is still negotiating with Poland and the Czech Republic for access to their territory, insists that the planned missile defenses are no match for Russia's nuclear arsenal and are aimed at a looming Iranian missile threat.
