Poland, Baltics Urge NATO to Target Russia with Europe’s Ballistic Missile ‘Shield’

MOSCOW, August 24 (RIA Novosti) - Several NATO member states have reportedly thrown their weight behind an agenda of targeting Russia with the US-controlled ballistic missile “shield,” which is being built in Europe to allegedly guard the European Union against Iran, Germany’s Der Spiegel said Sunday.

According to the German daily, the push comes from Poland and the Baltic trio of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia who claim they “feel threatened by Russia’s intervention into Ukraine.”

Ahead of the NATO summit at the end of next week, the four countries have urged the military bloc to mention Moscow as a potential aggressor in its summit communique and have safeguards against Russia hardwired into the document, as they did with Iran.

“The majority, especially Germany, have opposed [this proposal] to avoid provoking Moscow unnecessarily, because NATO had spent years trying to assure the Russians that its missile shield wouldn’t target them,” Der Spiegel said.

• The German paper said further debates had been put off till after the summit, which is scheduled for 4-5 September in Newport, South Wales.

The move came after NATO hit out at Russia for allegedly ordering its humanitarian aid convoy across the border with Ukraine, which it said was a flagrant violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty...................http://en.ria.ru/military_news/20140824/192298970/Poland-Baltics-Urge-NATO-to-Target-Russia-with-Europes-Ballistic.html
24/8/14
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