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Russian diplomat: US unwilling to make practical steps concerning missile defense system

Deputy FM Ryabkov: United States and its allies in Europe may have potential capable of producing a negative impact on the efficiency of the Russian nuclear deterrence forces

MOSCOW, December 13. /ITAR-TASS/. The United States is neither ready nor willing to make practical use in the area of missile defence of the positive results of the Geneva agreements between Iran and the Sextet of international mediators, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said in an interview with the Rossiiskaya Gazeta daily on Friday.

The Russian side, according to Ryabkov, is promoting a position “that is very difficult to counterattack.” “When Washington was only forming its approach to the anti-missile plans in their current state, it was not by accident that this approach had a reference to its adaptive nature - the European Phased Adaptive Approach,” he noted. “We asked what was meant under the term ‘adaptive.’ They told us that the U.S. anti-missile plans and, consequently, NATO plans in this area would be changed depending on the evolution of threats. Tough, I would like to stress that the European Phased Adaptive Approach is an American initiative.”

“Now that a range of components of the Iranian nuclear program have been actually frozen at the current level, we want to know: is it possible to at least freeze the implementation of the European segment of the missile defense system,” he said. “In response, we hear that it is not possible to do because the “Iranian nuclear threat” has not yet been eliminated. Moreover, now they say that the European segment of the missile defense system is not being created against any particular foe but is being created to be able to react to possible potential threats from various directions.”

“But it only proves that the ongoing activities in the area of missile defense will lead to a situation when the United States and its allies in Europe would have potential capable of producing a negative impact on the efficiency of the Russian nuclear deterrence forces,” Ryabkov went on to say. “We are not seeking to find discrepancies in anybody’s words. The fact is that the Geneva result is a test of the unambiguity of anti-missile plans they present in the dialogue with us.”

“We see only that the adaptive nature, regrettably, works only to augment potentials,” the Russian diplomat stressed. “The United States is demonstrating neither readiness nor willingness to make practical use of the positive politic and practical results of the November 24 Geneva agreements. I wish the situation could change for the better next year.”

Earlier, Washington reassured that should threats of the Iranian nuclear program be removed, the parameters of the missile defense system would be changed.