Russia Russia softens stance on Kaliningrad missile base 12/11/08 07:38 CET

Russia’s foreign minister has said his country will abandon plans to station missiles on the Polish border if the US, in turn, scraps its idea to base part of a missile shield in eastern Europe.

President Dmitri Medvedev announced the counter-measure the day after the US election last week.

But, during a press conference ahead of this Friday’s EU-Russia summit, Sergei Lavrov said the Iskander short-range weapons would only be deployed to the enclave of Kaliningrad if the US decided to go ahead with its plans.

Moscow has stated repeatedly that the proposal is a direct threat to Russia’s national security, but the US claims it is meant to protect it and its allies from attack by what it terms “rogue states”.

US President-elect Barack Obama has made no commitment to proceed with the plans to base ten missile interceptors in northern Poland and a tracking radar in the Czech Republic.

The EU has already expressed deep concern over Moscow’s proposal to base the missiles on the Polish border.