The U.S. plan to deploy its warships armed with “Aegis” air defence missile systems in the Black Sea and build radar in Bulgaria or Turkey. This is part of a planned missile defence system in Europe, says The Washington Post, quoting an unnamed official at the U.S. Defence Department.
Discussion on the possible involvement of Bulgaria in the future American missile defence system has been going on for some time. Something new in the Washington Post report is that the U.S. Defence Department plans to deploy warships equipped with “Aegis” missile interceptors in the Black Sea rather than the Mediterranean Sea as planned earlier. In February, U.S. Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Affairs, Helen Tauscher told reporters that Washington had no plans to deploy radar in Bulgaria.
This report cannot be considered hundred percent true because it was received from an anonymous source. Perhaps, there is no fire without smoke is applicable here. In May, the U.S. started deploying “Patriot” air defence systems in Poland, 60 kilometers from the Russian border. The Russian Foreign Ministry condemned the move. A report released recently by the U.S. Defence Department insists on the need for setting up an early warning missile defence centre in the Czech Republic. The Defence department requests the Congress to allocate over two million dollars for this purpose.
Some time ago, Russia and several other countries welcomed the back-down by the Barack Obama Administration to implement a plan to deploy a missile defence system in Poland and the Czech Republic. At present, there is an impression that this optimism was highly exaggerated. In reality, the U.S. is gradually implementing its plans to develop a missile defence system in Europe. In fact, this is being done despite the fact that the Presidents of Russia and the U.S., Dmitry Medvedev and Barack Obama, agreed to study the possible missile threats and then how to respond to them. Russian and American experts discussed this issue at their meeting in the U.S. last week.
According to the assistant secretary of Russia’s National Security Council, Vladimir Nazarov, the two sides have made a joint report despite differences. Washington is gradually setting up its missile defence system in Europe while holding consultations with Moscow. The deployment of American “Patriot” Missile batteries 60 kilometers away from the Russian border and American warships armed with “Aegis” missile interceptors will hardly satisfy Russia.
