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General Staff obliged to react, if radars, missile interceptors emerge near Russia - FM

Russia’s General Staff will be obliged to take retaliatory military and technical measures in case of the emergence of radars and interceptors near Russian borders

MOSCOW, October 22 (Itar-Tass) —— Russia’s General Staff will be obliged to take retaliatory military and technical measures in case of the emergence of radars and interceptors near Russian borders, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday.

This will be a forced measure, because the balance of strategic stability is about to be upset by US plans for deploying the 3rd and 4th sites of a global missile defense system, Lavrov said in an interview to the Ekho Moskvy, Voice of Russia and Radio Russia radio stations.

Moscow, Lavrov said, continues to insist on receiving from the West legally binding guarantees to the effect the EuroBMD system will not be directed against the Russian strategic nuclear deterrent. "We will continue to hold consultations,” Lavrov stressed. “But I do not see any opportunity for any joint action until it is clearly enshrined in legally binding terms that it is not directed against us."

Commenting on the Russian vision of the tasks and configuration of the missile defense system of the Eurasian continent, Lavrov said: "It would be much better, if the problems of a missile defense were moved into the sphere of strategic partnership. If the partner countries combined their capabilities and created a system liable to verification and directed at overcoming threats from the outside. This would be a huge revolution in the minds."

Lavrov said that Russia and NATO should not miss the chance to agree on a missile defense.

"Not because there will be war. I am not a big pessimist about this. Although the General Staff will be required to take measures of military-technical nature, if modern hardware - radars, interceptors – emerge around our borders."

"Of course, military planning will be done and conclusions will be made and put into practice," Lavrov added.