20 February 2009

DoD: Sec Def to consider Russian concerns on Missile Defense

KRAKOW, Poland -- U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Friday that Russian concerns will be taken into consideration as the Obama administration decides the fate of planned missile defense bases in Eastern Europe.

Gates said at a meeting of NATO defense ministers in Krakow that Obama's team has not yet decided whether to continue the Bush administration's plans to put bases in Poland and the Czech Republic, a plan that has outraged Russia.

Washington maintains the planned sites are meant to defend the U.S. and Europe from possible missile launches from the Mideast, but Russia has said the system could upset the traditional balance of power. Russia has proposed working with the U.S. setting up a joint missile defense system.
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