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Russia launches rival "Star Wars" plan
Last updated: 20 Feb 2001 14:12 GMT+00:00 (Reuters)
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By Jon Boyle
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia has handed NATO its proposals for a cut-price European anti-missile defence shield designed as an alternative to a planned $60 billion (41.7 billion pound) U.S. system that Moscow says threatens a new arms race.
Defence Minister Igor Sergeyev handed over the proposals for Russia's answer to the U.S. National Missile Defence (NMD) system -- dubbed "Son of Star Wars" by critics -- during talks with visiting NATO Secretary General George Robertson.
Robertson said the plan was evidence that both NATO and Russia recognised the threat of missiles from unstable states and had to work together to counter it.
President Vladimir Putin, underlining the huge political changes since the Cold War era, said continuing attempts to portray Russia as an "evil empire" were no longer convincing.
"What is important now is that we have a Russian proposal to deal with the same kind of perceived threat," Robertson told reporters after meeting Putin in the Kremlin. "We look forward to examining this proposal in detail and hearing a presentation from Russian experts on what has been put forward."
Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov described as a "positive sign" the stated U.S. willingness to negotiate over NMD with both its European NATO allies and Russia and China.
DOUBTS ABOUT JOINT U.S.-RUSSIAN PLAN
But a military and diplomatic source, quoted by Interfax news agency, played down any suggestion that Russia and the United States could produce any joint anti-missile shield.
The source said such a proposal would make legitimate U.S. plans to abandon the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, seen by Russia as the bedrock of arms control, and give Washington access to Russian technology it lacked.
It could also, the source said, upset other key players.
"It could stir antagonism in China, India and a host of other countries which share Russia's position on the necessity of upholding the ABM agreement," Interfax quoted the source as saying.
Colonel-General Leonid Ivashov, a hawk in charge of the military's foreign relations department, said Russia's three-stage proposal was "radically different" from U.S. plans in calling for political efforts before military action.
Russia says its plan is far cheaper than its U.S. rival, and will provide Europe with only a partial umbrella against attack, leaving Moscow's own nuclear deterrent intact.
Last year Putin called for joint work on a "non-strategic" defence system to counter potential attacks from "rogue states" like Iraq, Iran and North Korea without undermining arms pacts.
The Russian plan provides for close assessment of existing and future missile threats. If detected, they could be nipped in the bud by joint political efforts. A mobile missile force would be deployed near a potential aggressor only as a last resort.
Washington remains sceptical. Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says Moscow is "part of the problem" of missile technology proliferation which has fed the U.S. desire for NMD.
PUTIN BLASTS U.S. REMARKS
The remarks drew a thinly veiled public rebuke on Tuesday from Putin after his meeting with Robertson: "We are aware of the statements made by certain representatives of the West -- we can read -- who are trying to recreate the image of Russia as the 'evil empire' even though it doesn't scare anyone any more."
"Evil empire" was former U.S. President Ronald Reagan's trademark way of referring to the Soviet Union during the height of the Cold War arms race of the 1980s.
Some European members of NATO share Russian misgivings over NMD and have sought details of its proposals.
Robertson's visit follows a week of alternating diplomacy and missile tests by Moscow.
U.S. Congressman Curt Weldon, a Republican from Pennsylvania, was in Moscow with what Russian news agencies said was an "oral message" from U.S. President George W. Bush to Putin on joint development of a missile defence system.
On his arrival in Moscow late on Monday, Robertson said he wanted to improve relations soured by NATO's air strikes in Yugoslavia in 1999. He was later to re-open the NATO information office closed in a dispute over the operation.
Russia's relations with NATO have also been snagged on Moscow's objections to the alliance's further eastward expansion, particularly for ex-Soviet republics like the three Baltic states. Robertson said he had "listened very carefully to Russia's concerns and will continue to listen".