MOSCOW, June 21. /TASS/. Russia’s State Duma will urge the parliamentary assemblies of NATO, OSCE and some national parliaments to intensify dialog over the US missile shield deployment in Eastern and Southeastern Europe, according to a draft resolution posted on the Duma’s electronic database on Tuesday.
"State Duma deputies are turning to their colleagues - parliamentarians of the member states of the OSCE, NATO, the people’s skupstina of the Republic of Serbia, the skupstina of Montenegro, the parliamentary assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the assembly of the Republic of Macedonia with a proposal to step up direct dialog as part of bilateral parliamentary contacts, and also in the Parliamentary Assembly of the OSCE over the deployment of US missile shield systems on the territories of East European countries and the policy of NATO expansion in Eastern and Southeastern Europe," the draft document says.
According to the authors of the document - deputies of the State Duma Committee for International Affairs, this is "a dangerous line actually aimed at unleashing a new cold war rather than at defense."
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According to the Russian lawmakers, such dialogue is geared to jointly assess possible impacts of such steps and elaborate proposals aimed at creating favorable conditions for relaxation of international tension. The lawmakers express "profound concern over the deployment in Europe, in particular in Poland and Romania, of U.S. missile defense systems which, as double use systems, can be used as offensive tools against Russia in a prompt global strike."
"Despite the assertions of commitment to European security, these actions are turning entire regions in Europe’s east and southeast into hostages to such policy, exposing their territories to a retaliatory strike in case of an armed conflict," the Russian lawmakers warn.
The Russian State Duma is seriously alarmed by "irresponsible actions and aggressive rhetoric of the leadership of the number of NATO countries and open attempts at dragging certain European states into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization." NATO’s recent decision to deploy its battalions in Poland and the Baltics States runs counter to the provisions of the Russian-NATO Founding Act of May 27, 1997, which has it that "in the current and foreseeable security environment, the Alliance will carry out its collective defense and other missions by ensuring the necessary interoperability, integration, and capability for reinforcement rather than by additional permanent stationing of substantial combat forces," the document underscores.