Russia halts missile plans for European exclave (Roundup)

Moscow - Russia halted plans to deploy Iskander missiles in its European enclave of Kaliningrad Wednesday, in response a perceived shift in US President Barack Obama's policy on missile defence, a top military official was quoted by news agency Interfax as saying. 'Russia doesn't need the Iskander missiles if there won't be any US missile elements eliciting fear in Eastern Europe,' the agency cited the unnamed official in Russia's military general staff as saying. 'The realization of these plans has been suspended in connection with the fact that that the new US administration is not forging ahead with plans to deploy US missile defence elements in Poland and the Czech Republic,' he was quoted as saying. Officials in the Obama administration have said that, along with other policy details, the planned US missile shield program in the Czech Republic and Poland will be reviewed. President Dmitry Medvedev upped the ante in Russia and the United States' standoff over the security issue announcing plans in November to counter the shield by basing short-range Iskander missiles in its European enclave. His hawkish declaration on the very day of Obama's election victory struck a dissonant cord with messages of hope emanating from other world leaders. At the time analysts said the sharp words highlighted deteriorating security relations with Russia as one of the greatest foreign policy challenges to be faced by the new US administration. NATO and the European Union on Wednesday welcomed the Russian U-turn on missile deployment to its Baltic Sea province, which shares a border with Lithuania and Poland. Polish President Lech Kaczynski, whose country was set to host the US missile system, was more guarded in his response. 'We have contradictory information, and these are just rumours at the moment ... We will see what happens,' he said, according to the PAP news agency. The missile shield, part of which was scheduled to be based in Poland, is of 'essential importance' to the country, and a deal on establishing it should have been signed far sooner, he said. Washington has failed in multiple rounds of talks to soothe Moscow's apprehensions over its missile shield plans. It says the missile defence system is needed to protect against strikes from rogue states such as Iran, but Moscow views the plan as a threat to its nuclear deterrent. The impasse contributed to driving Russia's diplomatic ties with the administration of former US President George W Bush to their most sensitive level since the Cold War. Russian officials have voiced hope of better relations with Obama's team. 'We are ready to any succession of events, but we hope that there will be a window of opportunity to restart of our relations,' Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Wednesday in televised comments. 'Statements by representatives of new US administration allow to us to hope that they will be more ready to engage in joint analytical work, in contrast with the previous administration,' Lavrov said.