Yorkshire CND - Bush urges Russian participation in missile defence

30 April 2007
Bush urges Russian participation in missile defence
eux.tv

http://www.eux.tv:80/article.aspx?articleId=7356

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Washington (dpa) - US President George W Bush urged Moscow to participate in plans to deploy missile defence to Eastern Europe, saying that countering threats from "rogue states" like Iran would benefit Russian security.

"It's in your interests to have a system that could prevent a future Iranian regime, for example, from launching a weapon. It's in Russia's security interests," Bush said during a US-EU summit at the White House.

Bush, standing with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose country holds the rotating European Union presidency, said he has heeded her advice to increase high-level dialogue with the Russians to alleviate concerns about installing missile defence in Poland and the Czech Republic.

Bush said he would work with Russian President Vladimir Putin to ensure he does not see missile defence as "antagonistic." Putin has strongly objected to the plans and last week said he was considering suspending a European treaty to limit the size of conventional forces on the continent.