Russia"s NATO envoy has expressed cautious...
Adm. James G. Stavridis, NATO"s supreme allied commander for Europe and commander of U.S. European Command, told the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday that he supported the idea of partnering with Russia as a way to enhance security against shared missile threats.
"We can only welcome the statement made by Adm. Stavridis, but the question remains - whose finger will be on the missile button? Who is going to have the final word on the use of the missile defense system?" Dmitry Rogozin said in an interview published on Thursday in Russia"s Izvestia paper.
"I think that the Americans, for a variety of reasons, would not allow anyone to touch this button. And that leaves a lot of room for pondering," he said.
Rogozin speculated that Stavridis most likely wanted to alleviate Russia"s concerns over security guarantees under the new phased-in approach for European missile defense, which could involve Poland, the Czech Republic, Romania and Bulgaria.