BRUSSELS (AP) – German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Monday called for a calm debate within the European Union, the NATO alliance and with Russia on U.S. plans to develop an anti-missile shield in Europe.
Steinmeier, whose country holds the EU presidency, made the call amid growing concerns in Moscow and in the EU over Washington’s talks with the Czech Republic, Poland and Britain about those countries hosting radar bases and interceptor missiles as part of the plan.
“What we have to do now is to discuss this calmly within NATO and the EU and … to talk to the Russians,” Steinmeier told reporters as he went into a meeting of EU foreign ministers.
Luxembourg’s Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn said the U.S. plan was “incomprehensible,” adding money spent on a European missile defense system could better be spent elsewhere.
“We will have no stability in Europe if we push the Russians into a corner. Here, one has to help the Poles and the Czechs to show solidarity with a European position.”
The comments came ahead of Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek’s visit to NATO headquarters, where he was to discuss the controversial plan later on Monday.
Several EU nations, including France, have voiced concern that such a system could hurt European ties with Moscow.
The Russians have strongly criticized the plan to place a radar system in the Czech Republic and a missile interceptor site in Poland.
Washington has offered assurances that the installations would be meant to deal with a potential threat from Iran, not Russia.
A top Russian general was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying Monday that his nation’s airforce would be capable of easily knocking out U.S. missile defense sites in Europe.
Germany’s Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung suggested Friday that the U.S. plan could be integrated into the defenses of NATO.
Britain is also in talks with the United States about the deployment. On a visit to NATO headquarters Thursday, the director of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency, Lt. Gen. Henry A. Obering, said Washington also wants to base an anti-missile radar in the Caucasus, a move likely to intensify Russian concerns.
