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Vaclav Klaus: Czech decision to host U.S. missile defense cannot be revised
Czech President Vaclav Klaus, in an interview with Interfax on the eve of his visit to Russia, said there are no reasons for revising country’s position on deployment of elements of the U.S. missile defense on its territory.
“The Czech Republic has begun talks with the United States on the deployment of U.S. radars in our territory, and I do not think that things should be revised,” the president said.
“I know that Russia was informed of U.S. plans long time ago, and the U.S. missile defense cannot be used against Russia,” Klaus said, adding that he will try to “point that out to our Russian partners.”
The Czech president hailed Russia’s proposal to jointly work with NATO at creating non-strategic missile defense in Europe.
“Talks on non-strategic missile defense is a provision on the agenda of NATO–Russia relations. We view the idea positively,” he said.
Earlier, Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek expressed certainty that U.S. missile defense will be a part of the NATO missile defense system, saying that he is counting on the completion of talks on the deployment of U.S. radars in the Czech Republic in early 2008.
The Czech president also said that Russia has yet to fulfill all of its obligations within the framework of the adapted Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) Treaty.
When the Treaty was signed in November 1999 a number of conditions and commitments were undertaken, he said. In particular, Russia voluntary undertook a commitment to withdraw arms and troops from Georgia and Transdniestria before the end of 2001.
“Meanwhile, the withdrawal dragged on and fully stopped in mid-2004. The Czech republic is certain that provisions of the Treaty should be observed,” Klaus said.
The adapted CFE Treaty was signed in 1999 in Istanbul, Russia ratified it later. European countries link the ratification of the Treaty with so-called ‘Istanbul commitments,’ according to which Russia should withdraw its troops and arms from Georgia and Moldova. Moscow does not agree, saying that the only condition relates to the flank commitments in the Treaty, which Russia fulfilled in 2001.
The Czech president also spoke about the issue of Poland’s decision to block EU-Russian talks on the development of a new bilateral agreement, after Moscow imposed an embargo on delivering Polish meat to Russia, saying that he is certain that this cannot seriously hinder Russian-EU talks.
“I am certain that the issue will be resolved in the next few weeks,” he said, adding that the level of Russian-EU rations has achieved a high level and a large scale. Klaus expressed hope that “the postponement of the beginning of the talks for several weeks cannot seriously hinder relations in a strategic outlook.”
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