Safe European missile defense possible if there is political will – Moscow

Missile Defense Launch file photo

MOSCOW. Nov 27 (Interfax) – Russia is ready for missile defense cooperation with European partners on the condition of reliable guarantees this system will not be directed against it, First Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Denisov said at the opening of the 11th Congress on European Security and Defense in Berlin. The ministry website has published his speech.

“Missile defense is a test of readiness for bona fide cooperation and indivisible security. We are confident that it is quite possible to design a smart missile defense configuration to keep Europe safe from possible missile threats, without having an anti-Russian potential, if there is a political will,” the diplomat said.

“All it takes is a political effort – reliable guarantees should be given that the created infrastructure will be used exclusively as they are meant to be, to protect from limited missile threats coming from outside of the Euro-Atlantic region with clear military and technical criteria,” he said.

“The time has come for lifting politicized barriers in the development of mutually beneficial military-technical cooperation,” Denisov said. “It would be a good and smart addition to such initiatives as “the combination and joint use” of EU resources and NATO’s smart defense,” he said.

“That approach will open up new unprecedented possibilities for mutually beneficial cooperation and create conditions for better understanding of dimensions in the military organization of European states and a new format of confidence on the continent,” he said. “If we stick to the old methods, we run the risk of new division lines, including those in cyber-space,” the high-ranking Russian diplomat said.

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