SOFIA, Feb 26 (Reuters) - Romania is holding talks with Washington to deploy about 20 interceptor missiles as part of a U.S. missile shield, Romanian Foreign Minister Teodor Baconschi said on Feb. 25.
Earlier this month, the Balkan country’s top defence body approved a U.S. proposal to include Romania in a system it said aimed at providing defence against attack by ballistic missile or mid-range rockets. The move angered Russia, eastern Europe’s former Cold War master.
"The talks will probably take a year and a half. They concern deploying 20 interceptor devices at different locations in Romania," Baconschi told a news conference in Sofia after meeting his Bulgarian counterpart Nikolai Mladenov.
Bulgarian Prime Minister Boiko Borisov has said Washington will also hold preliminary talks with his government on hosting parts, adding Sofia should show solidarity to the collective European security.
U.S. President Barack Obama has revamped the U.S. missile defence approach since he scrapped a Bush-era plan for a radar site and interceptor rockets in the Czech Republic and Poland.
Washington says the plan was not aimed at Russia but instead focused on countries such as Iran. But Moscow sees it as a threat to its own nuclear arsenal and has bristled at what it sees as U.S. meddling in its sphere of influence.
Most of Eastern Europe was part of the Moscow-led Warsaw Pact during the Cold War.
Bulgaria’s Mladenov said he believed talks to host elements of the U.S. shield would be held in the coming months and years with many countries.
