the United States vowed to press ahead with its system without alliance approval. The head of the Pentagon’s Missile Defense Agency said on Thursday Washington wanted to secure the understanding of its 25 NATO members for its plans to build a missile shield in eastern Europe, but was not seeking their green light.
The United States’ European allies are concerned the move will damage their ties with Moscow, and Germany has led calls for wider consultations on the project. Ukraine has also complained Washington had not consulted with it.
Three ex-Soviet states in the Caucasus — Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia — said on Friday that Washington had not yet asked them to host the anti-missile shield.
U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. Henry Obering said having a radar in the Caucasus, just south of Russia, would be useful, but not essential. He did not specify a country.
“We should discuss developing such a defense measure within a NATO framework,” German Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung told reporters on the margins of a meeting of EU defense chiefs in the German city of Wiesbaden.
Jung said Russian concerns over the shield could be allayed by talks within NATO’s existing NATO-Russia Council, a forum for discussing defense issues between the former Cold War foes.
“I think that is the right way forward,” he said.
The United States wants to set up a radar system in the Czech Republic and a missile battery in Poland as part of a shield that would counter missiles fired by what Washington calls “rogue states” such as Iran and North Korea.
Jung did not say whether Germany was prepared to participate in the huge cost of such a shield but his spokesman said Berlin acknowledged action was needed to address the threat of attack.
“The question of a threat from long-range missiles exists and this threat must be addressed by concrete measures,” defense ministry spokesman Thomas Raabe said, adding that ultimately any missile defence system should be brought under a NATO roof.
Chancellor Angela Merkel’s junior Social Democrat coalition partners are worried such a shield could provoke a new Cold War but, indicating divisions in the ruling coalition of the matter, one government source said it was needed.
“No one doubts the necessity of such a system,” he said.
Moscow sees the system as an encroachment on its former sphere of influence and an attempt to shift the post-Cold War balance of power, but a top Russian general was quoted as saying on Friday Russia had its own missile shield and need not worry.
“We have everything needed to adequately respond to all these deployments,” Russian news agencies quoted Russia’s Air Force commander General Vladimir Mikhailov as saying.
“They have lots of cash, let them spend it,” he added.
Most European states have been reluctant to say whether they think Europe needs such a missile shield.
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said on Thursday the level of threat to European territory was “questionable” and it was up to individual countries to decide what they wanted to do.
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