28/7 Tass 184
ANKARA, July 28 (Itar-Tass) — Russia comes against deploying U.S. missile defence elements in the Black Sea region, Russian permanent representative to NATO Dmitry Rogozin said.
Speaking at a press conference on Thursday, Rogozin said, “We come against deploying U.S. missile defence elements in the Black Sea and in the region even if they do not infringe upon our interests.”
There are no grounds for deploying missile defence elements in the Black Sea region, he said.
According to the Russian permanent representative, “I wouldn’t like if the Black Sea turned out to be full of ships of countries, which had no relation to the region, under the pretext of developing the missile defence system in Europe.”
Turkey is a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation. Thus, it is also involved in deploying an anti-missile shield in Europe.
Rogozin said according to certain reports, Turkey intended to place a radar, which “will monitor an area covering several thousands of kilometres to the east and to the west”. This radar may be placed in southeast Turkey.
“Our American friends said they were not planning to deploy stationary anti-ballistic missiles in Turkey. However, if cruisers equipped with such arms stay even in five kilometres of Turkey’s seacoast (taking into account their range of 2-2.5 kilometres), the same thing is to deploy arms in the republic,” Rogozin said.
In his words, Turkey will be directly involved in creating missile defence and deploying ships in the Black Sea. Rogozin thanked Turkish diplomats for their tough position on complying with the Montreux Convention, which regulated the passage and presence of foreign ships in the Black Sea.