Interfax's Interview

 "I cannot understand our partners in the Russia-NATO Council," Totsky said.
 "Washington argues," he said, "that all of these interceptor missiles and radars in Eastern Europe are supposedly intended to defend the allies. But the allies are not even being asked. The American project does not need to be approved by the NATO Council and the European ambassadors are telling me that this supposedly refers to bilateral relations between Washington and Warsaw, Washington and Prague and Washington and Moscow, and that NATO is not at all involved."

 Concerning the Russian approach to the issue, the diplomat said that, Russia "has been proposing cooperation which has been rejected." "Since Iranian missiles and the nuclear weapons of the 'rogue states' rank among our common threats, let us gather together and assess them, and let us build an antimissile system jointly. No, we'll not get together, we are told. We'll build it first, they say, and then we'll invite you," Totsky said.

 In this American missile defense system story, "unexpected things come into view one after another," Totsky continued. "Whereas previously, only a site in Poland and a radar in the Czech Republic were mentioned, now they are talking about plans to set up one more site in Britain, and yet another radar in the Caucasus - mobile and small, almost a toy, which can mount any hill and look in any direction. A sea- based radar has been drawn to the Aleutian Islands. What secrets can be kept from us, when we have one enemy - terrorism, and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and missile technologies?" Totsky said.

 Asked about the Russia-NATO theater missile defense project, Totsky said, "We had been working very successfully on one of the best priority and practical projects." "But now everything has frozen in midair. We hope the work will be continued, but serious questions have arisen. The Russia-NATO theater missile defense project remains in place, but now we can see a separate, NATO-devised theater missile defense project emerging. Concurrently, the United States is creating a positional missile defense site in Europe," the ambassador said.

 "I've been asking our partners for a year now: Will a bridge be built between these three systems? Will they be dovetailed and integrated? Or will a wall rise between them? No one can answer this question and we only hear: When we build this, we'll see," Totsky said.

 Assessing the current state of relationships between Russia and NATO in the context of the U.S. missile defense system, Totsky said, that the beginning of joint work in this area marked top-level trust. "Now we have approached a limit when we have run out of trust. I see this as the most painful and regrettable thing," said Totsky.

 He also stated that the contemplated deployment of elements of the United States' national missile defense system in Europe was no serious threat to Russia.
 "I don't see any serious threat for Russia in the U.S. national missile defense system's 'third site', or the radars," Totsky said.

 "Russia is capable of responding to any strike. But then, we live in a different world today. I'm absolutely sure that Russia will not and is not going to fight against America or Europe. And Iran is not capable of doing so. There will be no war in Europe, so it is not the military threat that is being discussed now," he said.

 "However, the United States' rhetoric is one thing and its practical steps are something totally different, and this is very unpleasant," Totsky added.

 The U.S. has not held any consultations with Russia concerning the national missile defense system, he said.

 "Consultations imply an exchange of views, a discussion and attention to the partner's opinion. What we see is a briefing, when we are being informed about the United States' decision to deploy elements of its national missile defense system and are given some parameters. Yes, this is being done at a sufficiently high level, and one more briefing was held at a meeting of the Russia-NATO Council last week. Lt. Gen. Henry Obering [U.S. Missile Defense Agency director] spoke at length to the ambassadors of 26 NATO member-states and Russia, and demonstrated slides, diagrams and estimates. But there was not a single expert in the audience. Not only I, but the other ambassadors had queries," the military diplomat said.

 "To discuss what the U.S. national missile defense system is about, what it can do and what it can't, researchers, mathematician, physicists, ballistics experts and designers must meet, not ambassadors or ministers, because the laws of physics are the same in America and in Africa. A scientist will not be able to deceive a colleague, so no one will manage to sell a fake picture," he said.

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