BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS
DATE:
17/11/2008
UPDATE: Belarus Denies Seeking To Counter US Missile Shield
(Updates with comment from Wall Street Journal)
MINSK, Belarus (AFP)--Belarus Monday denied it was planning to acquire Russian Iskander missiles in retaliation for the controversial U.S. missile shield planned in eastern Europe.
A report in The Wall Street Journal last week had an "absolutely incorrect interpretation" of comments by Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko over the acquisition of the missiles, the foreign ministry said.
Instead, Lukashenko's comments about his country's plans to acquire the Iskander short-range conventional missiles were meant in the context of a "general rearming of the Belarussian army," the ministry said. The Wall Street Journal said it stood by its story.
"The Journal article notes Mr. Lukashenko's support for Russian plans to target any U.S. missile system in Europe with Iskander missiles. It further notes that Mr. Lukashenko was considering deploying Iskander missiles. It did not seek to link the two issues in any way," the newspaper said in a statement.
In the interview, Lukashenko "made no statements about our country's intent to host Russian Iskander missiles in Belarus as a retaliatory measure for U.S. moves to deploy a missile-defense system in Europe," it said in a statement.
Lukashenko gave the interview the week after Russia threatened to deploy Iskander missiles in its exclave of Kaliningrad, on the borders of the European Union, in response to the U.S. antimissile system.
Belarus borders Poland, which has agreed to host interceptor missiles as part of the planned missile shield.
The country is a close ally of Moscow, which says the planned missile shield threatens its national security despite U.S. assurances that it is not directed against Russia and is meant to protect against "rogue states" like Iran.
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