U.S. says Russia cannot veto missile defense

Arshad Mohammed
Reuters
Tuesday May 15, 2007

The United States will not allow Russia to veto its plans to build a missile defense shield in Europe, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said during a visit to Moscow on Tuesday.

"The United States needs to be able to move forward to use technology to defend itself and we're going to do that," she told reporters after meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Russia has strongly attacked the U.S. plan, which aims to use warning radar and rockets to intercept hostile missiles, as a threat to its own national security.

The issues is among those souring bilateral ties, and Rice's visit was intended to help patch up relations.

Anti-Western remarks from Moscow have evoked memories of the Cold War, capped by a speech by Putin last week commemorating the defeat of Nazi Germany, when Russian media said he was comparing U.S. foreign policy to that of the Third Reich.

Rice said after meeting Putin at his residence near Moscow that "the rhetoric is not helpful; it is disturbing to Americans who are trying to do our best to maintain an even relationship".

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov agreed, telling reporters Putin had "supported the American side's understanding that it's necessary to tone down the rhetoric in public statements and concentrate on concrete business".

Business leaders fear the war of words could affect booming trade and investment between Russia and the West.

Russia's economy, fuelled by strong energy and metals exports, is offering big opportunities for Western companies.

KEY DIFFERENCES REMAIN

After the Rice-Putin talks, both sides said they wanted to work together to strengthen cooperation for the peaceful use of nuclear energy and to prevent the spread of atomic weapons.

"We want to be real partners with the U.S. and I hope that is mutual," Lavrov told a final joint news conference with Rice.

But there was no sign that key differences had been bridged.

Lavrov acknowledged there was "no solution immediately in sight" to a disagreement over the Serbian province of Kosovo.

Russia, a longtime ally of Serbia, has hinted that it may veto a U.N. plan to grant Kosovo independence under EU supervision unless Serb concerns about the plan are addressed.

"We are going to have our differences, there is no doubt about that," Rice added. "... There will be times when something like missile defense may even hit an old nerve, but the relationship needs to be free of exaggerated rhetoric".

She said Lavrov had assured her that Putin's controversial speech last week had been "misunderstood".

Russia and the United States both hold presidential elections next year and Lavrov said neither wanted relations to become "hostages of electoral cycles in both nations", according to a Kremlin pool report.

Further complicating matters, Russia faces a difficult summit with another big trade and investment partner, the European Union, on Friday.

The presence of the German and U.S. foreign ministers in Moscow at the same time illustrates the depth of Western concern about relations after a period in which Putin has adopted a more assertive stance toward the United States and Europe.

Rows over Moscow's ban on Polish meat imports and its anger at Estonia's removal of a Soviet war memorial from the centre of its capital have clouded the atmosphere.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in Moscow on Tuesday for preparatory talks, conceded that it was unlikely that Russia and the EU would agree at the summit to start negotiations on an ambitious new partnership pact covering trade, energy, human rights and foreign policy.