Gates brushes off Russian criticism of missile shield

BERLIN, Apr 25 (Reuters) US Defence Secretary Robert Gates dismissed on Wednesday comments by Russia's foreign minister, who accused Washington of presenting its plans for a missile shield in central Europe as a fait accompli.

Gates was in Moscow on Monday in an attempt to allay Russian fears about the planned U.S. missile shield by offering Moscow a chance to cooperate on the plan by sharing data from early warning systems and conducting joint exercises.

But Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov dismissed the offer, saying it had no interest in participating in a plan that had been presented to Moscow as a done deal that Russia will have no ability to influence.

''I think it will take a while for the Russians to consider what we discussed. I think it's worth noting that the foreign minister did not sit in on any of my meetings (in Moscow),'' Gates told reporters at joint news conference with his German counterpart Franz Josef Jung.

He said Washington had offered to allow Russia to come look at interceptor missiles in Alaska and visit a radar site in California.

''We've made some very far reaching proposals and I have no doubt that there is some debate in Moscow about how to respond under the circumstances,'' he said.

''It doesn't surprise me that there are different points of view,'' said Gates, a veteran former intelligence officer who was an expert on the Soviet Union at the CIA.

Washington wants to place 10 missile interceptors in Poland and a radar in the Czech Republic to defend against what it perceives as a potential future threat from Iran or North Korea.

But the plan has provoked an angry reaction and determined opposition in Moscow, which thinks the US shield may hurt its national security.

The dispute has helped drive relations between Moscow and Washington to a new low, drawing comparisons to the Cold War.

MISSILE THREAT In a joint contribution to be published in Thursday's edition of Germany's Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper, Gates and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the threat posed by Iran's ballistic missile programme is a very real one.

''It's not just a threat to the United States but also for European states and Russia,'' they said in the article, printed in German. ''If we look a few years into the future it appears likely that there will be more missile threats.'' Russia senses this threat too, said one senior US official. In fact, Gates and other members of the US delegation were surprised by Russia's assessment of the threat posed by Iran, the official said on condition of anonymity.

Germany's centre-left Social Democrats (SPD), which share power with Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives, have also attacked the missile shield plan, saying it could provoke a new arms race and undermine global non-proliferation efforts.

Germany's conservative defence minister -- the only German cabinet minister to have publicly voice support for the plan -- thanked Gates for Washington's willingness to discuss the missile defence system with its NATO allies.

''One thing is very clear, that we're talking about a defensive system to defend and protect the population, and the fears voiced by Russia are completely unfounded,'' Jung said.

Reuters RS GC0001