Progress in talks with Washington on missile defense does not directly depend
on the upcoming U.S. presidential election,said in an interview to" Interfax"
Russian Foreign Minister Sergein Lavrov.
He said the situation around the American military program
will continue to significantly depend on the domestic political
landscape in the United States. "At the same time in our opinion the
impact of the ongoing dialogue with Washington on missile defense
cannot be directly linked with the outcome of upcoming elections in
this country, because the American position is defined by a wide range
of factors not limited to the views and attitudes of parties and
individual politicians, " said Lavrov.
"Russia wants to ensure that our concerns about U.S. plans to deploy
missile defense components in Europe were taken into account properly.
Otherwise we are forced to react in a way announced by Russian
President Dmitry Medvedev on November 23, regardless of who is "in
charge" at the White House, "said Lavrov.
According to the director of the Center for Public Policy Research
Vladimir Yevseyev, tough and uncompromising tone of Russia on missile
defense, is connected to the failure of talks between Medvedev and
Obama in November in Honolulu at the APEC summit. "After this meeting
it was decided to strictly follow the chosen course. Lavrov is the
conductor of the course of the president. It would be naive to expect
from him another pitch" the expert said in an interview with Vestnik
Kavkaza.
According to the analyst, a chance to resolve the situation
existed around September or October. "In November, after the meeting
in Hawaii all the options were gone. It was a question only of the
aggravation. Moreover, the aggravation, in different areas - both on
defense and Syria. Today both Russian and NATO navy will apparently
be located in the eastern Mediterranean, which will be observed for
the first time since 1999, since the conflict in Yugoslavia, " said
Vladimir Yevseyev.
"I think that now neither Moscow nor Washington are ready for a
compromise. There is one more thing: the planned exercise on missile
defense next spring. They should be near Munich, Germany. If anything
goes wrong, it will be another reason for tensions. It does not mean
that we will start to fight, but it says that there is a very serious
misunderstanding. And I do not really understand how this situation
will change. Perhaps it will happen under the new presidents of Russia
and the USA "summed up the Russian expert.
