Prague - Cooperation with Russia on the U.S. missile defence system is possible, but Moscow should not have the right to veto where NATO security matters are concerned, Alexandr Vondra, Czech deputy prime minister for European affairs, said in a debate on TV Prima today.
The planned anti-missile shield is to include a radar base on Czech soil. The two Czech-U.S. "radar" treaties were signed by the Czech and U.S. ministers under George Bush's administration last year.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on the ARD television on Tuesday she considers it necessary for Russia to take part in the missile defence shield project.
On Wednesday Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg said he would welcome it if Russia joined the U.S. anti-missile shield project in a meaningful way.
Vondra (Civic Democrats, ODS) today said he expects the new U.S. government of Barack Obama to place a bigger emphasis, in connection with the anti-missile shield, on a dialogue not only in NATO but also with the Russian federation.
"Everything I know makes me believe that they will continue their anti-missile defence project," said Vondra, former Czech ambassador to the U.S.
He said, nevertheless, that Obama's team might make "slight corrections" to the project. It may earmark less money than what was originally planned, he added.
Vondra said the U.S. definitely will not give its missile defence project up.
Apart from the radar, to be built in the Brdy military district southwest of Prague and yet to be discussed by the Czech Chamber of Deputies, the Central European part of the shield is to comprise a base with interceptor missiles in Poland.
Moscow has sharply protested against the project which it considers a threat to its own security.
Washington asserts the shield is to be aimed against possible missile attacks from "rogue" countries such as Iran.
According to Vondra, Obama and his administration will now probably seek even more intensive cooperation with Europe, and also a dialogue with Moscow.
"We negotiated about the issue with Russia in the past two years," Vondra said, recalling that the U.S., too, offered ways of missile defence cooperation to Russia.
One of the then debated possibilities was the presence of Russian monitors at the U.S. bases in the Czech Republic and Poland, which, however, both Czechs and Poles rejected.
"The cooperation, however, cannot include a Russian right to veto where decisions on NATO security matters are concerned," Vondra said.
Author: ČTK
