USA very unhappy with Russia’s decision to develop its own air defense system

US Assistant Secretary of State, Daniel Fried, stated recently that Moscow and Washington could cooperate within the framework of the Russia-NATO Council for the creation of the joint air defense system to defend their territories against a possible attack from Iran.

Photo: USA very unhappy with Russia’s decision to develop its own air defense system

Fried released the statement in return to Russia’s announcement to resume the production of medium-range missiles as long as the USA was determined to deploy elements of its anti-missile system in Eastern Europe.

“I do not think that it is a very good response. The modest air defense system, which the USA has been developing recently, does not pose a threat to Russia. There will be ten small interceptors in the system, they will not have warheads and each of them will weigh 75 kilos. I do not think it would be correct for Russia to create a missile system as a response to the threat which doesn’t even actually exist,” the US official said.

“It would be much better if Russia and the USA could work together at the Russia-NATO Council to create the joint anti-missile system that would defend the two countries against common threats which are rather serious threats for both Russia and the USA,” Fried said. The US diplomat believes that Iran and some other countries can irresponsibly develop ballistic missiles and nuclear warheads.

Daniel Fried also said that experts from Moscow and Washington were negotiating a subject pertaining to the reduction of nuclear warheads. “In their strategic relations, Russia and the USA reduce their weapon potential to the record level that hasn’t been registered for two generations,” Fried said. According to the US official, Russia and the USA are conducting the dialogue that will strengthen their mutual trust. “Some of my Russian colleagues make very important suggestions that expand this cooperation,” Daniel Fried said.

It is worthy of note that Henry A Obering, director of the Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency, said at a press briefing held on March 17 that the United States is "very open to Russian participation and invitation into collaboration on missile defense in the broader sense and on any level, all the way down to specifics in terms of potentially sharing data and radar data information."

Prepared by Dmitry Sudakov
Pravda.ru