HELSINKI, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- Finnish Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb said that the U.S. shift in missile defense policy in Europe may even increase the stability of the Baltic, reported Finnish Broadcasting Company on Friday.

    U.S. President Barack Obama announced abandonment of the controversial missile defense shield program in Eastern Europe on Thursday, while in response, Russia also announced cancellation of the deployment of missiles in Kaliningrad on Friday.

    Stubb told Finnish Broadcasting Company that the stability in the Baltic region may improve because Russia will not build its own missile interceptor defenses in Kaliningrad, and Russian-U.S. relations are otherwise improving.

    "The dialogue between Russia and the United States at the moment is significantly stronger than it was before and this could give a new impetus to the Strategic Arms Reduction Talks between the two countries," said Stubb.

    Finnish security policy expert, Stefan Forss of the Finnish National Defense University, said that he considered the U.S. decision to cancel its plans to build new missile installations in Europe as a win for the tough line taken by Russia in the issue.

    According to Forss, under the new policy of the United States, it is quite possible that Aegis cruisers may be moved into the Baltic Sea. The Aegis missile cruiser is the most effective air defense system in the U.S. arsenal.