Russia 'Halts Missile Deployment' / Too Soon To Implement Iskander Plans - Russian Defense Source

Russia 'Halts Missile Deployment' / Too Soon To Implement Iskander Plans - Russian Defense Source (NSI News Source Info) January 28, 2009: Russia's military has announced it will halt its plans to deploy short-range missiles in its Baltic enclave Kaliningrad, Interfax news agency says. A Russian military official said a change in US attitude had prompted the latest decision, Interfax reports. Russian missile complex "Iskander" on display during a military equipment exhibition in the Siberian town of Nizhny Tagil. Russia could counter a planned US anti-missile defence system in central Europe by deploying missiles in neighbouring ally Belarus, a senior Russian general said Wednesday. Belarus, a close ally of Russia which borders Poland, said earlier Wednesday that it was purchasing Russia's Iskander-E conventional missile system by 2020, which is designed to destroy air defences, but has a range of just 280 kilometres (174 miles). The US envoy to Nato, Kurt Volker, said that if true, the suspension would be a "very positive step", the Reuters news agency reported. Russia had said the US missile shield plan in Europe was a direct threat. In November last year, President Dmitry Medvedev responded by announcing the Russian plan, saying it was to counteract moves by the US. The US has insisted that its plan to base radars and interceptor missiles in Poland and the Czech Republic is designed solely to guard against attack by "rogue states", such as Iran. While the Russian defence ministry has not confirmed the latest Interfax report, the BBC's James Rodgers in Moscow says the agency is often used by the Kremlin to float proposals. Interfax quoted an unnamed military official as saying that "the implementation of these plans has been halted in connection with the fact that the new US administration is not rushing through plans to deploy" parts of its missile defence shield in eastern Europe. If the official's statement is borne out it may signal a wider hope in the Kremlin that the US under President Barack Obama will roll back the plans for the missile defence shield in Europe, our correspondent says. If Russia does shelve its Iskander deployment, it would be a substantial conciliatory measure to the new US administration, our correspondent adds. President Obama spoke to President Medvedev by telephone on Monday. The two men pledged to stop the "drift" in their countries' relations, the White House said. 'Moscow infuriated' The US has agreements in place with Poland and the Czech Republic to plug what the US has said is a gap in its global system of missile defence. The proposed system has Nato-wide backing. The US has said Iran is working on long-range missile technology and that the US missile shield would counter this. The US plan infuriated Moscow and soured relations with the US. Mr Medvedev said in November that short-range Iskander missiles would be deployed in the western enclave of Kaliningrad, bordering Poland, to neutralise any perceived US threat.