NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen has said that there is a lack of progress in talks with Moscow on NATO's missile defense system in Europe, but added that "it is in the benefit of Russia" to cooperate in this sphere.
“As for our cooperation with Russia, we have not seen much progress…. There is an ongoing dialog, but there is no agreement. We have invited Russia to cooperate [on missile defense], but so far we have not achieved much progress,” he said in an exclusive interview with Interfax-Ukraine in Brussels.
When asked whether he believes that this can happen, Rasmussen said: “I hope so, because it also in the benefit of Russia to cooperate [in this sphere]. The whole system will be more effective if we cooperate.”
In this regard, he recalled that Russia had requested and that NATO had guaranteed that the missile defense system will not be directed against Moscow.
“We have provided such assurances. We have told the Russians that our system is technically not designed to attack Russia, and politically we have no intention to attack Russia,” Rasmussen said.
He also noted that 15 years ago the sides signed a joint document in which they stated that they “will not use force against each other.”
“We are still committed to this declaration. I hope the Russians do the same. And finally we suggested establishing a joint staff center that could create the framework for exchange of data and other activities so that Russians could see with their own eyes that our system is not directed against Russia,” Rasmussen said.
