NATO chief casts doubt on Russian shield offer

BRUSSELS, June 8 (Reuters) NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer cast doubt today on a Russian proposal that the United States use a Russian-controlled radar in Azerbaijan for a missile defence shield.

Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed to President George W Bush at a Group of Eight summit yesterday that Washington use the Azeri radar instead of planned missile interceptors in Poland and a radar in the Czech Gepublic, a project Moscow suspects is aimed at its own arsenal.

''I think it is a bit close to the rogue states we are discussing,'' de Hoop Scheffer told a defence conference in Brussels of the proposed Russian alternative.

''But it's a bit too early in the day for my final judgement.

It is always useful when two presidents are constructively talking to each other on this.'' The US plan is aimed at building a defensive shield to preempt potential threats from Iran and the Middle East.

Bush did not directly mention Putin's offer in comments to reporters, but US officials have in the past stressed they see the proposed central European sites as ideally placed to intercept missiles coming from West Asia.

Reuters SLD VV1453