Russia’s Dmitry Medvedev has told US president that locating part of a missile defense shield in Lithuania is ‘absolutely unacceptable’.
“The Russian president openly expressed his serious concern about talks between the US and Lithuania on the possible installation of anti-missile bases. It was said that for the Russian side this was absolutely unacceptable,” Medvedev’s diplomatic advisor Sergei Prikhodko said after Bush and Medvedev met on the sidelines of the G8 summit in Japan on Monday.
It was their first meeting since Medvedev became president.
The United States wants to base 10 interceptor missiles in Poland and a radar facility in the neighboring Czech Republic to ward off potential attacks by so-called “rogue” states, notably Iran.
But Pentagon Spokesman Geoff Morrell made it clear before the tentative deal with Warsaw was reached that Poland was not the only option the United States had to host the shield.
“There are several European nations that could host the (missile) interceptors and Lithuania is one of them,” Morrell told reporters in Washington.
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