CZECH REPUBLIC: U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates says activation of missile shield could depend on definitive proof of a threat

The United States has proposed delaying the activation of parts of its European missile defence shield if Russia cooperates on the project, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Tuesday (October 23). Gates said the possible delay was one of the proposals he and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice put forward in talks with Russian officials to try to ease Moscow's concern and win its cooperation over the defence system. Gates said the United States was continuing to encourage the Russians to become a partner in missile defence and continued to reassure them that the facilities were not aimed at Russia and could be beneficial. The United States plans to place interceptor missiles in Poland and a radar system in the Czech Republic as part of a system Washington says is needed to counter possible attacks from "rogue states" including Iran and North Korea. Gates said activation of the missile shield could depend on "definitive proof" of a threat. In Prague on Tuesday, Gates met the Czech President Vaclav Klaus and the Defence Minister Vlasta Parkanova. At a joint news conference, the Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topoplanek said, "We were evaluating the risks due to which we decided to place this (missile defence) system in Europe." Gates said, "Our goal is an integrated system that would protect all of the members of the alliance from threats such as from Iranian ballistic missiles." "The second proposal was that we would consider tying together the activation of the sites in Poland and the Czech Republic with definitive proof of the threat, in other words, Iranian missile testing and so on," Gates said. "We have not fully developed this proposal, but the idea was we would go forward with the negotiations, we would complete the negotiations, we would develop the sites, build the sites but perhaps we would delay activating them until there was concrete proof of the threat from Iran," he told reporters. The Americans also offered to allow the Russians to maintain a presence at the Czech site, to promote transparency. Gates, after meeting with Czech officials, said such an agreement would not be completed without Prague's approval.

ITN Source | October 24, 2007

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