"Our view that the establishment of a 'third site' in Europe is not intended to address a threat from Iran will just be confirmed," Sergei Lavrov told a Carnegie Moscow Center seminar, responding to questions about a possible refusal by the U.S. to join the Gabala radar project in Azerbaijan, proposed by Vladimir Putin at the G8 summit in Germany earlier this month.
Talking to an audience brought together to mark the 200th anniversary of Russia-U.S. diplomatic relations, he described U.S. plans to place a radar and a dozen interceptor missiles in Poland and the Czech Republic, ostensibly to address a missile threat from "rogue states" such as Iran, as "containment-minded" and directed against Russia.
"A planned European missile defense base fits, like the last piece of a jigsaw puzzle, in a picture of the global U.S. missile defense system located - accidentally or not - around Russia's borders. I do not think that this is accidental," Lavrov said.
"The response to this strategic challenge will, of course, also be strategic," he said but added that Russia would "prefer to work together, as President Vladimir Putin suggested at a meeting with President George W. Bush in Heiligendamm."
He called for a collective approach on missile defense, where European countries would be involved on an equal basis, rather than as hosts of a U.S. unilateral plan. With such a joint approach and a powerful capability Gabala is, Lavrov said, a "third site" in Central Europe, which he described as "controversial" and "boding ill for strategic stability," would become unnecessary.
"I know many people in Europe who are rightfully concerned about the negative consequences of a U.S. national missile defense system in Europe for the process of global disarmament," he said.
"It will be very unfortunate if unnecessary haste over issues that can and should be put on the backburner provoked alienation between Russia and the U.S.," he said.
"We would like to think that talks between Russian and U.S. Presidents in Kennebunkport will help remove these risks and facilitate a partnership on all questions - missile defense, Kosovo, START, any other issue important for global stability - in which neither side will lose its prestige," the chief Russian diplomat said.
