The new U.S. adoptive approach for European...

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.

"First, it would create a zone of cooperation with Russia [from a military standpoint]; secondly, it could technically add to the early warning time because of the location of the system; and thirdly, it creates confidence-building measures between ourselves and the Russians," the admiral said.

Moscow has earlier offered the use of the Gabala radar station in Azerbaijan and the Armavir radar station in Russia"s Krasnodar Territory as alternatives to previous U.S. plans for a missile shield in Central Europe, but Washington has been reluctant so far to accept the proposal.

Stavridis called the new phased-in approach for European missile defense "timely and flexible," and said it will provide

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