Russia demands permanent access to shield sites

By Oleg Shchedrov and Christian Lowe

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian concerns over Washington's plan for a missile shield in Europe will only be eased if Russian officers have permanent access to the shield facilities, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday.

Russia says the planned shield is a threat to its own security and the row over the issue has helped to drive diplomatic relations with the United States to their lowest point since the Cold War.

Moscow has, however, agreed to consider a set of confidence-building measures proposed by Washington to allay Moscow's concerns.

"In all these many proposals we are interested only in two things: the permanent presence of our officers and reliable technological means of monitoring (activity at the sites)," Lavrov said in an interview with Ekho Moskvy radio station.

"For us it is important that we should see second-by-second where that radar is looking, and what is happening at the interceptor (missile) base in the Czech Republic."

STICKING POINT

He said this demand was a sticking point in negotiations with Washington over the shield.

"In the proposals which we have received (from U.S. negotiators) ... there is no mention of a permanent presence, it says that officers can be posted to the Russian embassies in Poland and the Czech Republic and work at these sites on the basis of reciprocity," Lavrov said.

He said without permanent access to the sites, "this whole scheme of providing these measures for improving confidence is rendered worthless."

The United States plans to deploy a radar in Poland and interceptor missiles in the Czech Republic.

Washington says the missile shield in Europe is needed to protect from missile strikes by what it calls "rogue states," specifically Iran.

Moscow says it believes the radar will be used to monitor its territory and has called the U.S. plan a threat to the fragile balance of forces in Europe.

An informal summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President George W. Bush on Sunday failed to bridge the main differences on the shield.

But Putin said after the meeting he felt Washington had heard Moscow's concerns and expressed hope that adequate confidence-building measures would help allay them.