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Lawmaker Condemns U.S. Bill on Russian Radar in Cuba
A ranking Russian lawmaker on Thursday condemned the U.S. House of Representatives for imposing the precondition of shutting down a Russian radar station in Cuba for the restructuring of Russia's debt to the Paris Club.
Dmitry Rogozin, chairman of the Committee for International Affairs of the State Duma, the lower house of Russia's parliament, said he is surprised at the U.S. House's "more than strange" stance, the Interfax news agency reported.
The U.S. House passed the bill on Wednesday, urging the Clinton administration to block the restructuring of Russia's foreign debt to the Paris Club if Moscow fails to shut down its radar in Lurdes, Cuba.
It was reported that Russia owes the U.S. 485 million U.S. dollars in debt inherited from the former Soviet Union.
Rogozin pointed out that U.S. Congress has no moral right to handle the issue this way, as a law recently passed in the U.S. has given the go-ahead for the construction of a U.S. radar installation in the direct vicinity of the Russian border on the Aleutian Islands, in Britain and in Greenland.
In addition, a U.S. radar is now operating in Norway in violation of the 1972 ABM Treaty, he added.
"The Congress thinks that the U.S. has the right to violate all agreements while we must instantly dismantle our radar in Cuba, which was not involved in ABM tests and has nothing to do with these agreements, unlike the American radar in Norway," the lawmaker said.
Meanwhile, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov, while condemning the Congress bill, said the development should not be "over-dramatized."
The radar station has been functioning for many years "and it is no secret to America," Kasyanov said. The station is employed to monitor the observance of international arms control agreements, Kasyanov said, noting that the U.S. has analogous stations.
He said the U.S. Congress resolution is dictated by the country's internal political situation, but the U.S. administration has a "balanced attitude" towards the problem and therefore the situation should not be "over-dramatized."
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