Russia awaits articulate explanations from U.S., Poland on missile deployment

Moscow wanted articulate explanations from the United States and Poland of the deployment of Patriot missiles near the Russian border, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told a Thursday press conference.

"We oppose the new arms race about to start in Europe. Patriot systems are not an anti-missile measure of defense. They are designed for anti-aircraft defense. So we don't quite understand why one needs to ... create military infrastructure in the close vicinity of the Russian border," the minister said.

"We expect to hear some articulate explanations from the American and Polish sides. Still, so far we hear only the pleas not to worry, because these systems are not targeted against Russia. But we have already heard that and we hope our new relations with Washington and Warsaw would allow us to receive more detailed explanations," Lavrov said.

U.S. Patriot missiles arrived in Poland on Monday. On Wednesday, Polish Defense minister Bogdan Klich welcomed a 100-strong U.S. unit and high-ranked US military officials to the town of Morag, close to the Russian border, where six training-mode Patriot missiles had been deployed. After 2012, they will be supplemented with the standard SM-3 combat missiles.

The Polish minister said the arrival of the missiles had been "an important step to enhancing the security" of Poland, according to the RIA Novosti news agency.

Source: Xinhua