Agence France Presse — English
March 9, 2007 Friday 4:55 PM GMT

Armenia has ‘no information’ on US anti-missile plans

Armenia, Russia’s closest military ally in the Caucasus, said on
Friday it had no information on whether the United States wanted it
to host part of its anti-missile defence shield.

"We have no information regarding the intentions of the United States
to place anti-missile radars in one of the Caucasian republics and
therefore are not considering this question," foreign ministry
spokesman Vladimir Karapetian told AFP.

The head of the US missile agency said on March 1 that his country
wanted to put a mobile radar in one of the Caucasus countries —
Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia — where it could detect missiles
earlier than other planned units in Europe.

Russia has reacted furiously to plans to place parts of the system in
states friendly to Washington, including the Czech Republic and
Poland. The US insists the system would aim to track missiles from
states such as North Korea and Iran.

Armenia is Russia’s closest military ally in the Caucasus and a
member of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, a post-Soviet
security group dominated by Russia.

Russia maintains its largest military base in the South Caucasus in
the Armenian city of Gyumri, where about 3,000 troops are deployed.
The Russian and Armenian armies jointly patrol the country’s western
and southern borders.