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.
USA
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