RUSSIA CLARIFIES MISSILES STANCE

EURSOC, UK
sia_Clarifies_Missiles_Stance.html
June 15 2007

Russia scales down threat as NATO discusses southern Europe shield
and Azeris ponder

Newspapers are reporting today that Russia has "backed down" from
its "Cold War brinksmanship" and declared that it won’t, after all,
be targeting its nuclear weapons at European cities: "Only" those
places in Poland and the Czech Republic where the US missile defence
shield will be located.

The Telegraph says that "hawkish" Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov was
trying to wind down the hostility between Washington and the Kremlin
which has resurfaced in recent weeks, following Vladimir Putin’s
threat that Russian rockets would be aimed at Europe in response to
the US shield.

The newspaper reports: "A Kremlin spokesman maintained that Mr Putin
had never meant to threaten European cities directly, although an
official admitted that it had not been in Russia’s interest to correct
any misapprehension."

The climb-down – or clarification, or even renewed threat against
NATO members Poland and the Czech Republic, depending on where you’re
sitting – comes as NATO leaders meet in Brussels to discuss Russia’s
opposition to the shield.

US Defence Secretary Robert Gates emerged from a meeting of ministers
yesterday saying that the shield, which Washington argues is designed
to protect against Iranian missiles, will go ahead. He dismissed
suggestions that Russia’s offer to share the Galaba missile base
in Azerbaijan could replace the eastern European location for the
system, and added it was unlikely that the US and Moscow would agree
on a compromise before Vladimir Putin and George Bush meet in the US
next month.

He told press that the Azerbaijan facility, if it was used, would be
an "additional capability" to the Polish-Czech shield. He added that
there is definitely "interest" in bringing the Russians ob-board for
any planned shield.

A decision is due in 2008.

Gates added that NATO defence ministers also agreed to open a six-month
study into a short-range anti missile system which could guard against
an Iranian attack against NATO’s southern flank.

Turkey, Greece, Bulgaria and parts of Romania would not be covered
by the proposed US shield.

EURSOC asked last week if anyone had asked the Azeris if they wanted a
joint US-Russia defence base on their land. Seems someone did: Turkish
Weekly reports that while Azeri president Ilham Aliyev is positive
about the Russian idea, senior officials accused the Russian leader of
"tactlessness" and point out that under the terms of the Galaba lease,
any third-party use must be agreed by the Azeri government.

The station, built by the Soviets in 1987, monitors much of Asia,
including Iran. Russia continued to use it after the collapse of the
Soviet empire, but in 2002 it admitted the base belonged to Azerbaijan
and agreed to pay $3 million a year to lease it. One imagines they’d
get a lot more from the Americans.

Azeris are calling for security guarantees from both Russia and
the US if the base is used, claiming with some reason that it would
become an Iranian target if it were incorporated into an anti-Iran
missile system.

The newspaper adds that the government could use US and Russian
influence to secure the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan
in return for accepting a joint base.