A Russian proposal to erect an anti-missile defense system in partnership with the United States and Europe remains on the table, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was quoted Saturday as saying.
"We already proposed a tripartite, Russia-Europe-US project a year and a half ago," Lavrov told the German newsmagazine Der Spiegel in an interview to appear Monday.
"With radar stations on Russian territory and in Azerbaijan, we can have a chain that would permit us to apprehend all threats in terms of missiles coming from the south," he said.
"It's the alternative to plans drawn up unilaterally by the United States," he added, referring to a US missile defence system with installations in the Czech Republic and Poland that Moscow regards as a threat to its security.
"We can sit at the negotiating table and start by examining the situation."
The Obama administration, through its under-secretary of state for political affairs William Burns, said Friday it could review its missile defense plans if Russia helps to eliminate the threat of attack from Iran and North Korea.
