MOSCOW. March 7 (Interfax) - The implementation of plans to deploy the U.S. THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) systems in South Korea can worsen tensions in the region, Russian Foreign Ministry's Non-Proliferation and Arms Control Department Director Mikhail Ulyanov told Interfax.
"Certainly, the deployment of the U.S. missile defense systems in South Korean territory, which is apparently being put into practice, can heat up the situation in this region even more, especially considering that this is happening amid the large-scale military exercises involving South Korean and American naval forces," Ulyanov said.
"Preserving the plot of land where the antimissile project is to be implemented as the local golf club's property would meet interests of regional security and South Korea itself to a much greater degree," he said.
"The situation is being driven further into a deadlock, with virtually no way out visible at this point," Ulyanov said.
"We have many times expressed our absolutely negative attitude towards the South Korean segment of the U.S. global missile defense shield and those accounts remain in force," Ulyanov said.