Russia hints At ABM Cooperation With Europe

MISSILE DEFENSE

by Martin Sieff
UPI Senior News Analyst
Washington (UPI) Aug 30, 2005
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov Tuesday dangled the carrot of anti-ballistic missile cooperation with the 25-nation European Union.

Speaking at Ashuluk airfield in the southern Russian Astrakhan region, Ivanov said the creation of a single European anti-missile defense system was possible.

"It is possible in principle," Ivanov said according to a RIA Novosti news agency report. "Russia has proposed establishing a non-strategic ABM system in Europe," he said after attending a Commonwealth of Independent States air defense exercise.

Ivanov also said Russia could make a serious contribution to the European air defense system. "Russia will sufficiently contribute to this system, including using the weapons that were shown today at Ashuluk," the minister said.

Russia in the past has launched diplomatic balloons and dropped hints about offering European nations strategic cooperation agreements that would weaken their ties to the United States and NATO, but so far no significant substantive offers or initiatives have come of them.

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MISSILE DEFENSE

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