U.S. Defense Secretary Bill Gates speaks after the meeting of the Nato-Russia Counsil in Brussels Thursday June 14, 2007. He said that Putin's proposal should be discussed first by American and Russian technical experts.  (Xinhua Photo)

    BRUSSELS, June 14 (Xinhua) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin's proposal for a joint Russia-U.S. anti-missile radar site in Azerbaijan is not an alternative to the U.S. plan to deploy missile defense facilities in Eastern Europe, said NATO chief Jaapde Hoop Scheffer on Thursday.

    "I don't think that the offer by President Putin -- the proposal he made in Heiligendamm on the Azeri radar site -- is going to replace, or be an alternative to the bilateral negotiations going on between the U.S. and Poland, and the U.S. and the Czech Republic," de Hoop Scheffer told reporters after a meeting of the NATO-Russia Council.

    U.S. Defense Secretary Bill Gates told the meeting that Putin's proposal should be discussed first by American and Russian technical experts, said de Hoop Scheffer.

    Moscow was strongly opposed to the U.S. plan to deploy interceptor missiles in Poland and a related radar station in the Czech Republic.

    Putin at the Group of Eight summit in Heiligendamm, Germany, surprisingly offered to have a joint radar site in Azerbaijan with the United States.

    A NATO official, who refused to be named, said the Americans insist that an Azeri site can be used for the purpose of early warning, but not the precise tracking of missiles.

    NATO Assistant Secretary General John Colston said prior to the defense ministers' meeting that there were arguments that a radar site in Azerbaijan might be too close to potential sources of missile threats.

    A NATO missile defense feasibility report identified Iran as one of the potential sources of missile threats for Europe.

    NATO defense ministers on Thursday agreed to assess the political and military implications of the U.S. plan to deploy a missile defense shield in Eastern Europe.

    This is the first time that NATO has made a decision concerning the U.S. plan. Previously, NATO allies had held discussions and consultations on the U.S. plan.

    "The NATO roadmap on missile defense is now clear. It is practical and it is agreed by all," de Hoop Scheffer told a separate press conference on Thursday.

    He explained the NATO needs to look into the political and military impacts of the American system in Europe because the alliance is based on the principle of "indivisibility of security," a NATO jargon meaning that all allies should have the same protection.

    The planned U.S. missile defense system can cover most of Europe. But Turkey and parts of Bulgaria, Romania and Greece will be left out of the protection, thus harming the principle of "indivisibility of security."

    "We can never have grade A and B allies in the alliance because all allies are created equal," said de Hoop Scheffer. 

Russia urges U.S. to freeze missile shield plan

    WASHINGTON, June 14 (Xinhua)-- A senior Russian official on Thursday reiterated Moscow's call for United States to freeze development of its planned missile shield in eastern Europe.

    Visiting Dmitry Peskov, deputy spokesman for the Russian government, said the proposal by Russian President Vladimir Putin to use jointly a radar station that Russia controls in Azerbaijan was a substitute for rather than an addition to the U.S plan of missile shield in east Europe. Full story

    Russia: new missiles will ensure security

    MOSCOW, June 14 (Xinhua) -- New RS-24 missile, together with Topol-M mobile and stationary missile complexes, will guarantee Russia's national security for the next 20-30 years, according to Russia's army daily Krasnaya Zvezda published on Thursday.

    In the next few years, Russia will start deploying RS-24s, which will be capable of breaking through any existing or potential missile defence shields, such as those planned by the United States, the daily said, citing General Nikolai Solovtsov, the commander of strategic missile forces. Full story

    U.S. avoids to judge feasibility of Russia's missile shield proposal

President Bush (L) shakes hands with President of Russia Vladimir Putin at the G8 summit in Heiligendamm June 7, 2007. (Xinhua/Reuters, File Photo)

    WASHINGTON, June 12 (Xinhua) -- The United States remained on Tuesday reluctant to make direct judgment on Russia's proposal last week for joint use of a radar station that Russia controls in Azerbaijan as a means of countering missile threats.

    "What we now have is a basis of conversation," White House spokesman Tony Snow told reporters when asked whether Washington was considering Moscow's offer. Full story