|
Putin warning 'not helpful'
05/06/2007 00:05 - (SA)
Aboard Air Force One - President Vladimir
Putin's warning that Russia would aim missiles at Europe if the
United States pursued its plan for a missile defence shield
near Russia's borders is "not helpful", a senior US official
said on Monday.
US national security adviser Stephen Hadley, speaking to
reporters on President George W Bush's plane on his way to a
G8 summit in Germany, said: "We would like to have a
constructive dialogue with Russia on this issue. "We have had it
in the past."
Putin warned in an interview released on Sunday that Russia
would revert to its Cold War stance of aiming missiles at
Europe if Washington went ahead with its plan to site parts of
its planned shield in Poland and the Czech Republic.
"There has been some escalation in the rhetoric. We think
that that is not helpful," Hadley said when asked about Putin's
warning, issued just days before the Russian president meets
Bush and other leaders of the Group of Eight industrial
countries.
He reiterated that the missile system, which Washington
says is meant to defend against a potential missile threat from
what it considers renegade nations, is not being developed with
a view of Russia as an enemy.
"It does not pose a threat to Russia. Hopefully it is not
about a threat from Russia," Hadley said.
- Reuters
|
News
