NATO Needs Voice in U.S. Decision to Deploy Missile Defenses in Europe, German Leader Says

German Chancellor Angela Merkel yesterday called for the United States to submit to NATO its plans for deploying missile defense interceptors in Europe, the International Herald Tribune reported (see GSN, March 13).

Merkel is scheduled to meet tomorrow with Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose government has regularly slammed the U.S. plan and indicated that it could lead Moscow to abandon the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty (see GSN, Feb. 16).  She plans to meet Friday with Polish Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski, who is considering the U.S. request to deploy 10 missile interceptors in his country.

“We, and I, will say that in Poland we would prefer a solution within NATO and also an open discussion with Russia,” Merkel told ZDF public radio.

A NATO spokesman said, though, that the alliance is not seeking a role in U.S. missile defense talks with Poland and the Czech Republic, which could become home to a radar base.

“NATO must first agree on the threats and, to the extent possible, a common approach,” said spokesman James Appathurai.  “NATO is in no way engaging in these bilateral talks.”

Washington is working directly with Warsaw and Prague to avoid becoming stuck on lengthy talks within NATO, alliance diplomats said.

“The U.S. does not want endless delays, nor does Poland or the Czech Republic,” said a senior NATO official.

More U.S. transparency on its plans is needed, however, said former Polish defense minister Radoslaw Sikorski.

Washington tried “mightily and with some success” to raise the issue in NATO, said Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Fried.  However, “we have met with resistance from some of [the] same countries whose politicians say we should do more at NATO.”

“I think it is a first-class idea for NATO to do a lot on this issue,” he said, “but that doesn’t mean you can’t do things bilaterally and then to them complementarily” (Judy Dempsey, International Herald Tribune, March 13).

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko yesterday offered support for deployment of U.S. missile defenses in Europe, Interfax reported.

“It will be in the interests of peaceful coexistence if each state is protected, if we possess means of defense,” he said (Interfax, March 13).

U.S. Lt. Gen. Henry Obering, head of the Missile Defense Agency, today continued talks with Ukrainian officials regarding “aspects of the U.S. missile defense program including proposed missile defense bases in Poland and the Czech Republic,” the U.S. Embassy in Kiev said.

While Ukraine has been mentioned as another possible host for a U.S. installation, that presently does not appear to be on the table, Agence France-Presse reported.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych has spoken against the plan (Agence France-Presse/Spacewar.com, March 13).

Obering is also meeting with German and French officials this week, Reuters reported.

“One of the things Obering is trying to do is calm down the hysteria about this issue,” a U.S. official said.  “This project is not at all aimed at Russia and isn’t going to cause a new arms race” (Louis Charbonneau, Reuters/Yahoo!News, March 14).

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