Azernews.Az

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has called the United States' new proposals aimed at easing tension over planned missile defense facilities in Europe "a step backwards".
"We're continuing to examine in detail the written proposals that we finally received, but it's already clear that it's a step backwards compared with declarations from US officials in Moscow at the start of October," Lavrov said after talks in Washington with US officials, including Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
Lavrov said the U.S. was seeking to unilaterally station missile defense elements in Eastern Europe, in which case any transparency or trust-building on the issue was out of the question.
"If they understand cooperation as the development of unilateral plans to construct their anti-missile shield in Eastern Europe and ask us only to help realize these plans and give them all our information, we understand it otherwise," the Russian minister told the press in Annapolis, Maryland.
Lavrov said another US-Russian meeting was in store but chances for reaching agreement on missile defense had dwindled. The talks in a two-plus-two format will be arranged by the United States "to discuss strategic stability issues".
"We'll try once again to mutually understand each other. But the proposals that we received reduce the chances of such a result," Lavrov said.
The United States is in talks with the Czech Republic and Poland to locate radars and interceptor missiles on their soil in a bid to protect itself against missile attacks from what it calls "rogue states" such as Iran and North Korea. Russian President Vladimir Putin has offered to the United States to jointly operate the radar station in Azerbaijan's western Gabala district as an alternative to Washington's plans. While the U.S. has made clear it was ready to cooperate with Russia, it said the Russian offer was an addition rather than a replacement for its missile shield plan.
Lavrov's talks with top US officials come a month and a half after Secretary Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates visited Moscow and made the proposals for US-Russian cooperation on missile defense. Following discussions on October 11-12, U.S. officials said the suggestions included stationing Russian and American liaison officers at each other's missile defense facilities as part of a broader joint effort to protect against missile attacks.
In a bid to allay Russian concerns, Washington also offered to delay activation of parts of its missile shield in Europe if Russia cooperated on the project.
US ambassador to Russia William Joseph Burns has said Washington was working hard to iron out its differences with Moscow on missile defense.
"We are doing everything in our power to turn our discrepancies into opportunities for cooperation," he told Russian Nezavisimaya Gazeta (Independent Newspaper).
Burns insisted his country's plans for a missile shield in Europe were not aimed against Russia.
"We understand the gravity of Moscow's concerns, although we do not entirely share this view, and we do not think that potential facilities in Poland and the Czech Republic pose a threat to Russia's security. They are designed to ward off a potential threat from the south, from Iran," the ambassador said.
He added that President George Bush and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin were doing everything possible to strike points of commonality on the issue.
Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov arrived in Baku on Tuesday for talks focusing on possible joint use of the Azerbaijani radar station. The proposals deal with the role that the mammoth Soviet-era facility could play in the global security system in Europe.
During the two-day visit, Serdyukov is expected to tour the radar station.
The facility, leased by Russia under a 10-year deal signed by the two countries in 2002, allows to track down air space for a distance of 6,000 km.