In These New Times

Nov 15 2008 WalesOnline

France’s president said plans for an American missile shield in eastern Europe were misguided and would not make the continent a safer place.

But Nicolas Sarkozy also warned Russian president Dmitry Medvedev against upping tensions by deploying missiles on the borders of the European Union in response to the planned missile defence system.

Mr Medvedev urged all sides to refrain from “unilateral” moves.

Mr Sarkozy’s comments, at a summit with Mr Medvedev, were the strongest yet by an American ally against the missile-defence plans – and undercut the rationale behind US president George Bush’s European security strategy.

The plans for using sites in Poland and the Czech Republic have infuriated Russia despite the Bush administration’s insistence that they are aimed at protecting Europe from Iran.

“Deployment of a missile defence system would bring nothing to security … it would complicate things, and would make them move backward,” Mr Sarkozy said at a news conference with Mr Medvedev. Mr Medvedev smiled and pointed his finger at Mr Sarkozy in approval.

The remarks came at the end of a week in which the United States and Russia rejected each other’s proposed solutions to the stand-off over the missile plans, making it increasingly likely that it will not be resolved before US president-elect Barack Obama takes office.

Mr Obama has not been explicit about his intentions on European missile defence, saying it would be prudent to “explore the possibility” but expressing some scepticism about the technical capability of US missile defences.

Moscow sees the defence plans as a Cold War-style project that could eliminate Russia’s nuclear deterrent or spy on its military installations. Much of western Europe is nervous about the idea of such major defensive weaponry stationed around the continent.

But Poland and the Czech Republic, where bad memories of Soviet domination run deep, hope Mr Obama follows through on the plans.

Czech deputy prime minister and minister for European affairs Alexandr Vondra said in a statement he “was surprised” about Mr Sarkozy’s remarks.

“France never consulted with us such a standpoint,” he said. “As far as I know a stance on the missile defence was not part of the French presidency mandate for the EU-Russia summit.” France holds the rotating EU presidency.

Mr Sarkozy said he was worried about Russia’s threat to deploy short-range Iskander missiles near Poland in response to the US move.

“We could continue between Europe and Russia to threaten each other with shields, with missiles, with navies,” he said. “It would do Russia no good, Georgia no good and Europe no good.”

Mr Medvedev suggested deploying missiles in the Baltic Sea enclave of Kaliningrad in a speech hours after Mr Obama’s election. Mr Medvedev and other Kremlin officials later backed off slightly, and earlier this week Mr Medvedev suggested that if Washington halts its plans, Moscow would do the same.

Mr Sarkozy said he would discuss the missile issue with Nato counterparts at a summit early next year and proposed a pan-European security conference after that, under the auspices of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe. Russia and the US are members of the OSCE.