Doubts over Russia missiles offer

Doubts over Russia missiles offer
By Demetri Sevastopulo and Guy Dinmore in Washington and Andrew Ward in Rome
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007
Published: June 8 2007 18:54 | Last updated: June 9 2007 01:46


After months of escalating tensions between Washington and Moscow over US plans for a missile defence shield in Europe, President Vladimir Putin this week surprised George W. Bush with an offer to co-operate with the US.

While Mr Bush welcomed the offer, it was unclear whether it would satisfy the US. The Pentagon wants to install 10 missile interceptors in Poland and a powerful X-band radar in the Czech Republic to counter future threats from Iran. Arguing that there is no threat from Iran, Moscow accuses the US of building a system against Russia.

On Thursday, Mr Putin proposed that the US and Russia jointly host part of the system at a former Soviet radar station in Azerbaijan. He added on Friday that, instead of Poland, the US could locate interceptors in Turkey, Iraq, or at sea.

US and Russian officials are expected to meet later to discuss the idea. But questions exist as to whether the Russian proposal would be a substitute for the US plans. The radar in Azerbaijan, for example, is not the kind of radar the US wants to place in the Czech Republic.

Richard Lehner, spokesman for the US Missile Defense Agency, said the Russian radar in Azerbaijan was “very capable”, but pointed out that it was an early warning radar, as opposed to the X-band radar the Pentagon wants to place in the Czech Republic.

Ted Postol, a missile defence expert at MIT, said Russia had made an “enormously clever proposal”. He said the US could also attempt to place its X-band radar in Azerbaijan, which he said would be a better location to track Iranian missile threats than the Czech site.

The US already has early warning radars in the UK and Greenland, although Lt Gen Trey Obering, head of the Missile Defence Agency, has previously said the US would like another in the Caucasus to provide complete coverage of Iran.

In contrast to the early warning radars, the X-band radar provides greater ability to track and identify objects in space because of its higher resolution.

It is also not clear that the US would be willing to give up the idea of putting missile interceptors in Poland, which the Pentagon says is the best European location.

Mr Bush on Friday re-affirmed the plan to build an interceptor base in Poland, saying Mr Putin’s proposal had not shaken US resolve to locate parts of its missile defence system in Europe.

Speaking after talks with Polish President Lech Kaczynski, he vowed to negotiate a “fair agreement” with Warsaw “that enhances the security of Poland, and the security of the entire continent against rogue regimes who might be willing to try to blackmail free nations”.

Mr Putin also suggested sea-based interceptors, but the US is several years away from testing long-range interceptors.

While military experts debate the technical merits of using Azerbaijan as a forward radar base, Russia’s offer is possibly more significant if it leads to a closer partnership with the US in countering Iran’s emergence as a regional power.