http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,3-76349,00.html

MOSCOW tried yesterday to enlist Germany in its efforts to block American plans for a national missile defence (NMD) system. Rudolf Scharping, Germany’s Defence Minister, who visited Moscow yesterday, was plainly viewed as a sympathetic petitioner for the Russians, having last week described as unrealistic the US plan for an anti-missile shield.

So far there have been only crisp communications on the subject between Europe’s leaders and President Bush. On Monday night a senior government source in Berlin said that Gerhard Schröder, the German Chancellor, and Tony Blair had discussed the issue “in the broadest of terms”. Britain is sympathetic towards aspects of the US plan but all other leading European powers are expressing varying degrees of scepticism. German defence experts say that, apart from their technical reservations, they believe it is a bad strategy to start an arms race with a large field of competitors. The NMD programme is intended to defend the United States against nuclear attack from so-called rogue states such as Iran and North Korea, as well as China. Germany says this increases the probability of a nuclear exchange.

The Russians made a similar point yesterday during the Scharping visit. Colonel General Valeri Manilov, Russia’s First Deputy Chief of General Staff, said that the US system was “liable to destroy the balance of strategic, defensive and offensive weapons and lead to a new arms race”.

An alternative Russian system, involving Nato and the European Union, he said, would leave the military balance intact and would also eliminate the threat of missile strikes from rogue countries.

Details of the US plan and the Russian counter-plan for co-operation with Nato and the EU are vague. Herr Scharping would not be drawn on the Russian proposals. Like Alain Richard, the French Defence Minister, he upheld a commitment to anti-ballistic missile systems and asked for more information from Moscow.

The key issue for Germany is: can it legitimately lobby the US Administration on behalf of Europe? Increasingly Germany sees itself as the true voice of the Continent because Britain, France and Italy are tied up with elections. Germany is convinced that it has a better understanding than Britain of the mind of President Putin, who speaks German. The Schröder team thus feels it could interpret Russia for the US Administration.

There is disagreement among officials about how far Berlin should go down this path. German policy should be broader, some German experts say, extending to the leaders of Russia’s main regions, and should not be centred excessively on Mr Putin.