BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

04/04/2007

US NMD in E Europe directed against Russia -- Lukashenko

MINSK, April 4 (Itar-Tass) -- The deployment of U.S. missile defence elements in Eastern Europe is aimed against Russia, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said.

"As for the deployment of missile defence, it is clear that this system is not aimed against Belarus. This main attack force is being deployed against the Russian Federation," Lukashenko said on Wednesday while touring the Brest region.

In is words, "The Belarusian army bears responsibility for the security of the Union State in the west. No one has relieved us of this responsibility, and we look at the deployment of U.S. missile defence elements in the Czech Republic and Poland from this point of view."

At the same time, Lukashenko said Moscow and Minsk "are not discussing plans for the deployment of medium-range missiles in Belarus as an adequate response to the deployment of U.S. missile defence elements in the Czech Republic and Poland."

"No one may bring even a conventional missile into the republic, let alone a nuclear one, without the president of Belarus," Lukashenko said.

Source:

http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=11404583&PageNum=0