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Washington - The United States believes the rift with Russia over plans to install a US missile defence system in Eastern Europe can be smoothed over, the US State Department said
Friday, despite a threat by Russian President Vladimir Putin to suspend an arms control treaty on the continent.
Putin, during a meeting with Czech President Vaclav Klaus, warned that the missile defence would increase of the likelihood of a conflict and said he is considering a moratorium on a treaty
aimed at limiting the size of conventional forces in Europe.
The United States is in negotiations with the Czech Republic and Poland to deploy a missile defence system on their soil that would include a radar site in the first country and 10
interceptor missiles in the latter.
Russia has strongly objected to the plans, saying it will offset the strategic missile deterrent on the continent. US officials argue the system is too limited to affect Russia's missile
capability and is aimed at countering Iran's growing ballistic missile threat.
'It's hard for anyone to understand, when you look at the facts, what it is about 10 interceptors that is perceived as a threat to (Russia's) multiple-thousand-missile-and-warhead
deterrent,' US State Department deputy spokesman Tom Casey said.
The US plan was the focus of talks on Thursday among NATO foreign ministers at a meeting in Oslo. NATO has determined that the system does not threaten Russia. But that, along with a visit
by US Defence Secretary Robert Gates to Moscow this week and other high-level contacts between US and Kremlin officials, has not softened Russia's stance.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov sharply criticized the plans at the NATO meeting and accused the transatlantic alliance of seeking out new enemies, a move that is 'not particularly
healthy.' Casey said the United States will continue to work to bridge difference with Russia.
'Certainly we understand that there is a difference between us on the question of missile defence,' Casey said. 'I think that that is ultimately an issue that is quite resolvable without any
major problems or conflicts.'
The United States has offered to include Russia in the plans and share the technology, but Moscow has rebuffed the attempts aimed at deflating the tension over the plans.
The Pentagon's Missile Defence Agency hope to deploy a limited system by 2011 and the complete 10 interceptors by 2013 if negotiations with Poland and the Czech Republic can be quickly
concluded.
Putin said he could freeze the 1990 Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) treaty because some NATO members have not ratified an updated 1999 version, and further justified the move by tying it
to the missile defence plans.
Putin's threat drew sharp criticism from NATO and EU officials. NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said Putin's remarks were met with 'grave concerns, disappointment and regret.'
The president of the European Commission,
Jose Manuel Barroso, told reporters in New York that that Putin has sent a 'disappointing signal' about the type of relations Western Europe wants to have with Russia.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged Russia at the NATO conference to stick to its commitments under the CFE and other treaties.
