MOSCOW. May 20 (Interfax-AVN) - Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Nikolai Makarov does not trust assertions that the proposed American missile shield in Europe is not targeted against Russia.
"The American side's assertions that the European missile shield is no threat to Russia are bare in our opinion," he said at a conference in Moscow on Friday.
Russia has agreed to discuss the future architecture of the European missile defense system with NATO representatives, but Moscow's proposal "has not received due understanding," Makarov said.
"Furthermore, although an announcement was made that the architecture of the European missile shield will be worked out jointly, the United States is already deploying interceptor missiles in European countries," he said.
"One gets the impression that the missile defense architecture has been worked out already and is being put in place as part of the global American missile shield," Makarov said.
"The purpose of discussing some other missile defense architecture seems unclear to me," Makarov said.