US shield in Ukraine, Caucasus could spark regional crisis-MP

15:42|02/ 03/ 2007

MOSCOW, March 2 (RIA Novosti) – Including Ukraine and the Caucasus
nations into a U.S. air-defense system could cause another internal
political crisis in these countries, a senior Russian MP said Friday.

A senior Pentagon official said Thursday that the United States "would
like to place a radar base in the Caucasus" amid earlier reports of
plans to deploy elements of a missile shield in Poland and the Czech
Republic, which have further strained relations between the U.S. and
Russia.

Akhmed Bilanov, first deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee for
CIS Affairs, told RIA Novosti that the events that occurred in the
Crimea last year and the subsequent protests against
Ukrainian-U.S. military exercises clearly demonstrated that "Ukrainian
society was divided on the issue of NATO."

He said any further pressure would only exacerbate the situation in
these countries, and possibly in the entire region.

"Needless to say, this situation will not be of any benefit to the
United States, quite the contrary, it would cause additional problems
and make the U.S. security system more vulnerable," Bilanov said.

Russia, which has been anxious about NATO bases that have been
deployed in former Communist-bloc countries and ex-Soviet republics,
has blasted the plans to deploy anti-missile systems in Central Europe
as a national security threat and a destabilizing factor for Europe.

The deployment of a U.S. anti-missile radar system in the Caucasus
would not affect Russia’s defense capabilities, but the country could
respond to the move nevertheless, the Russian Air Force commander said
earlier on Friday.

Vladimir Mikhailov said Russia was capable of offering an adequate
response to the deployment.

Washington said the defense system was designed to counter possible
strikes from North Korea and Iran, which are involved in long-running
disputes with the international community over their nuclear programs.

Lieutenant General Henry Obering, who oversees the Pentagon’s Missile
Defense Agency, did not specify which country in the Caucasus might be
selected as a possible site for an anti-missile radar, but a senior
Russian analyst suggested Friday that Georgia would be the most likely
site.

"The most convenient territory [for the radar], in political terms, is
currently Georgia, which has not as yet raised objections to any U.S.
proposals," said Leonid Ivashov, deputy head of the Academy of
Geopolitical Problems think tank. "I believe the Americans could
station a radar there."

But he said that deployment in Azerbaijan was also a possibility.

NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said in Munich last month
that Georgia could become a candidate to join the alliance in 2009 if
it successfully carried out the necessary military reforms of its
Armed Forces.

The Georgian Defense Ministry had no comment on the matter Friday.

Azerbaijan said Washington had not yet approached it with any
proposals.

Ivashov also said Russia would have to monitor missile systems in the
Caucasus to ensure its security.