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Russia seeks more information on Euro missile-defense program

RIA Novosti

16:45 02/11/2010

MOSCOW, November 2 (RIA Novosti) - Russia would like to get more information about the proposed Euro missile-defense system, Moscow's envoy to NATO said on Tuesday.

Moscow wants to analyze the missile risks the new defense system will be designed to counter and then decide whether they are a danger to it, Dmitry Rogozin said.

"If it is simply a US system built on European soil with European money and without any guarantees that will not be targeted against Russia, that is unacceptable to us," he said.

"We hope that some cards will be opened before the document is officially made public."

NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen has stated repeatedly that at the NATO summit in Lisbon on November 19-20 its members will need to decide on the program's implementation and also invite Russia to join it.

He added, however, that the "Euro missile defense" system will only be a part of NATO's nuclear deterrence concept and tied up with the US theater and national missile-defense systems.