Russia hasn't abandon missile defense plans
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Russia has not abandoned its plans to install short-range Iskander missiles in its western Kaliningrad enclave, chief of Russia's General Staff Nikolai Makarov said on Monday.
"There is no decision to that effect so far. It must be a political decision," the Interfax news agency quoted him as saying.
"I cannot make this decision; that is a responsibility of the president," he said.
Makarov also stressed that the United States actually "will develop the missile defense network, but it will be sea-based."
The saying contradicted with what Deputy Defense Minister Vladimir Popovkin had said Saturday.
"Reason prevailed over ambitions, and there is no need in deploying tactical Iskander systems in Kaliningrad," Popovkin told the Ekho Moskvy radio station.
"Naturally, we will cancel the measures that Russia planned to take in response to the deployment of U.S. missile defense systems in the Czech Republic and Poland. One of these measures was the deployment of Iskander missiles in the Kaliningrad region," he said.
Makarov also expressed a negative attitude towards possible U.S. deployment of missile shield in the Caucasus region.
"Our general attitude is negative," he said, while reiterating that Russia intended for joint development of a global missile defense system.
"As for missile defense, we view it negatively, unless we build it jointly," the RIA Novosti news agency quoted Makarov as saying.
U.S. President Barack Obama on Thursday announced decision to abandon Bush-era missile defense shield program while initiating a "phased, adaptive approach" of the plan in Eastern Europe.
The Bush administration planned to deploy 10 missile interceptors in Poland and a radar system in the Czech Republic as part of its European missile shield to protect its European allies from missile threats from "rogue states."
Russia strongly opposes the measure, saying it poses threat to its security.
