BRUSSELS. Feb 8 (Interfax) - While the NATO leadership continues to insist on the creation of separate NATO and Russian missile defense systems, it is also calling for bilateral cooperation in this area, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said.
There is no sense in hiding that from the outset NATO and Russia had somewhat different ideas about the missile defense architecture, but talks continue, he said at a press conference in Brussels on Monday.
He said he was optimistic about the prospect to find a solution.
The most effective system for NATO-Russia cooperation on missile defense would be one where NATO provides security for its allies and Russia protects its own territory, the secretary-general said.
NATO is responsible for the security of its allies, and this responsibility cannot be handed over to someone else, which is why there should be two systems, one for NATO and the other for Russia, Rasmussen said.
How can one expect the Russian people to agree eventually to NATO being responsible for defending Russia, he said.
Russia is unlikely to accept a state of affairs where both missile defense systems are controlled from the same center, the NATO headquarters, he said.
Many NATO nations would not like to fully rely on Russia to protect them from a missile threat, and are only prepared to cooperate with it, Rasmussen also said.
Both systems will pursue one goal: to protect territory and people from missile attacks both in Russia and in NATO countries. Efforts are under way to explore how to specifically approach this goal with maximum cooperation and transparency, he said.
Russian and NATO defense ministers are due to meet in Brussels in June to discuss a report on the preliminary results of the negotiations. The document is unlikely to produce final conclusions, Rasmussen said.