MOSCOW. Nov 29 (Interfax) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has described as "word-juggling" Western media reports alleging that the NATO leaders rejected Russia's proposals on a European missile defense system.
"This is juggling with words, which journalists are taking advantage of, and they are doing so in an indecent way," Lavrov told Interfax on Friday in commenting on a Friday article headlined 'Russia Rebuffed on Missile Offer' by The Wall Street Journal.
"In putting forward the idea of a sectoral missile defense system, President Medvedev has never said that this is Russia's final proposal. It implies consideration and a search for options as to how cooperation in this issue could develop," Lavrov said.
"It was natural to presume that it is experts who should make their conclusion on the issue, and this very position was set out in the final document [upon the negotiations in Lisbon] experts were instructed to analyze all possible options and proposals, consider them, and then present their conclusions at a meeting of the Russian and NATO defense ministers in June," he said.
"The situation is very simple, but some view it as if a glass was half filled with water, while others as if a glass was half empty," he said.
"I would call the headline of the article in The Wall Street Journal as sensationalism, since our proposal could not have been rebuffed because, I would like to repeat, it was not meant to look like the only and final [option]. On the contrary, we stressed that it should be considered along with other proposals," Lavrov said.
The Wall Street Journal said in its Friday issue that NATO disapproved of Russia's proposal on merging Russia's missile defenses with those of Western countries.
"Leaders of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization have rebuffed a proposal from Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to unite Russia's missile defenses with those of the West," it said.
"At a closed-door meeting with NATO leaders in Lisbon Saturday, Mr. Medvedev suggested uniting a missile shield being built by the 28 allies with Russia's own missile defense system," the newspaper says.
"People attending the summit said President Barack Obama and other leaders diplomatically rejected the Russian leader's proposal, saying the issue should be looked at by the countries' technical experts. The experts will look at ways the two systems can cooperate and report to a meeting of NATO and Russian defense ministers in Brussels in June," it said.