Russia, U.S. differ publicly on missile shield, Iran

[unhappycamper]

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during a meeting with visiting foreign academics in the southern Russian resort city of Sochi September 14, 2007. Putin warned the United States on Friday that Russia may quit a Cold War treaty on intermediate missiles if it is not expanded to impose arms restrictions on other states. (REUTERS/RIA Novosti/Kremlin)


Russia, U.S. differ publicly on missile shield, Iran
By Andrew Gray and Arshad Mohammed | October 12, 2007

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia urged the United States to freeze its plans for a missile defense shield in eastern Europe on Friday after high-level talks failed to reach a compromise.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates said however, after meeting their Russian counterparts, that they would continue work to try to thrash out agreement on the shield plan which has soured U.S.-Russian relations.

The two sides also clashed over Iran's nuclear program. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said unilateral sanctions were hampering efforts to negotiate a solution, while Rice fired back, saying Washington would continue financial sanctions.

The U.S. officials said they had brought with them proposals for progress on missile defense. These included the possibility of Russians inspecting elements of the shield in Europe and the United States.

Lavrov, speaking at the same news conference with Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov, Rice and Gates, said however there were problems and the proposals would require further work.

"We believe that to make the joint work of Russian and U.S. experts most effective, plans on deploying the third positioning region (of the missile defense) should be frozen," Lavrov said.


Rest of article at: http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2007/10/12/russias_putin_warns_us_over_missile_treaty/