Moscow, July 5 (RIA Novosti) The speaker of Russian parliament’s upper house has hoped that the US could give up its plans to deploy a missile shield in Poland and Czech Repubic as President Barack Obama has shown least interest in the controversial issue.
Federation Council Speaker Sergei Mironov told Ekho Moskvy radio Saturday that he has reasons to believe that “ultimately, this thoughtless and very dangerous step will not be made – there will be neither radar nor missiles”.
He said that Obama has shown least interest in his predecessor’s plans to open a missile interceptor base in Poland and a radar station in the Czech Republic, which Moscow has fiercely opposed stating them as a security threat.
The George W. Bush administration had said the missile defence shield elements were to counter possible strikes from “rogue” states, and not aimed against Russia.
However, Obama has not yet announced a final decision on whether to move ahead with the deployment.
This issue is going to top the agenda of discussion during Obama’s two-day visit to Moscow starting Sunday.
