Russia says it may reconsider cooperation with West in Afghanistan

Russia says it may reconsider cooperation with West in Afghanistan
Russia may reconsider its cooperation with NATO in Afghanistan if the alliance continues to ignore Moscow's concerns with Western missile defense systems in Europe, government officials said Monday.

"If our partners will not react to our predictable and expected statements regarding our national security risks, we will have to consider the issues of cooperation (with them) in the other areas," said Dmitry Rogozin, the Russian envoy to NATO.

For instance, the review may be applied to cooperation in Afghanistan, he said.

The envoy told the State Duma that Russia would be respected internationally only when other countries saw it as a power "capable to combat any emerging threats."

Therefore, it was necessary for Moscow to broaden the notion of "substantial combat force," he said.

"Both land and sea-based forces, primarily the fleet carrying guided weapons, should be included in this category to make the control over conventional armed forces in Europe viable," Rogozin was quoted by Interfax news agency as saying.

President Dmitry Medvedev warned last week that Moscow might deploy tactical missiles on its western and southern borders with Europe and consider withdrawing from the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty with the United States unless NATO offers legal assurances that western anti-missile systems would not target Russia.

English.news.cn   2011-11-28 21:58:21 FeedbackPrintRSS
MOSCOW, Nov. 28 (Xinhua)