MOSCOW - Russia's military is ready to "neutralize" any threat to its nuclear deterrent from U.S. missile defense sites in Europe, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Kislyak said July 14, according to Interfax news agency.
"If we see the development of systems that could reduce our deterrent potential, our military will have to take steps to neutralize the threat," Kislyak was quoted as saying at a briefing in Moscow.
He did not specify the steps that would be taken, saying, "This will be decided by military specialists."
"We would prefer not to have to do this," he added.
Kislyak said U.S. proposals to ease Russian concerns about the missile shield, which Washington claims is aimed at countering possible threats from states such as Iran, remained in doubt.
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visited Moscow in March and offered Russia the opportunity to monitor the sites, which they plan to install in the Czech Republic and Poland, but Czech and Polish officials later cast doubt on that offer.
"There are misunderstandings between what the U.S. foreign and defense ministers said [in Moscow] and what their Czech and Polish partners say. So this still remains in question," Kislyak said.
The Army's Future Combat Systems (FCS) program is ready to test a few components that soldiers may have in their hands by 2010.
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