'US using Cold War tactics on missile shield'

Moscow, Mar 21: Russia accused the United States today of using Cold War-style methods to persuade European allies to host an anti-missile shield on their soil.

Washington plans to install elements of the shield in Europe as part of a scheme it says is designed to protect from missile attacks by rogue states. Moscow says it believes the shield plan is a threat to its security.

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told Russia's lower house of parliament that the United States was using the ''politics of the fait accompli'' to bounce European countries into participating in the shield.

''This is an old approach. This is how they acted in past times, during the Cold War, when they scared everyone with the Soviet threat and persuaded everybody to group together in a disciplined block,'' Lavrov said.

''Now we all face a common threat ... the Soviet Union does not exist any more.'' ''The Americans' decision was taken in a way that is, generally speaking, disrespectful both to the European Union and to some members of NATO,'' Lavrov said.

Former Soviet satellites Poland and the Czech republic are considering a US request to station elements of the shield -- including radars and missile batteries -- on their soil.

Russian officials have expressed disquiet over reports Washington also wants ex-Soviet Georgia to host part of the planned shield. Both Washington and Tbilisi have said no such request had been made.

REUTERS

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