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Russian President Dmitry Medvedev warned the West Tuesday that disagreement about a missile shield for Europe could provoke an arms race that may cause Russia to deploy new weapons abroad, AFP reported. Medvedev's warning is all the bleaker coming from a president with a history of adopting a softer Western policy. His remarks were made during a broad state of the nation address that Medvedev primarily devoted to domestic issues, the report said. "In the coming 10 years, we are facing the following alternatives," Medvedev said in nation-ally televised remarks. "Either we agree on antimissile defense and create full-fledged, joint cooperation, or - if we fail to reach constructive cooperation - (we will face) a new round of the arms race. And then we will have to make a decision on deploying new forces." Russia and NATO had agreed this month to look into ways in which the two could work together on a new missile shield that has been backed by Washington but staunchly opposed by the Kremlin. Medvedev has demanded that Russia be assigned an equal say in how the system works - a request that would require an unprecedented degree of military cooperation and intelligence sharing. Meanwhile, in his address, Medvedev said that the three years of his presidency had "confirmed Russia's status as a modern world power that achieves successes through modernization." The president promised to lower inflation, which is set to top 9 percent in 2010, to under 5 percent within the next three years. AFP |
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