Romania 'to host US missile shield'
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Romanian President Traian Basescu
Romania has backed a US plan that would see interceptor missiles deployed in the country as part of a missile shield to protect Europe, its president has said.
Traian Basescu said on Thursday that the country's top defence body had agreed to be part of a system against "potential attacks with ballistic missiles or medium-range rockets".
The US military facilities, which would become operational by 2015, still require parliamentary approval before they can go ahead.
Basescu sought to assure Russia, which had previously condemned plans for a missile shield, that the proposed move was not a threat.
"The new system is not against Russia. I want to categorically stress this, Romania [will] not host a system against Russia, but against other threats," he said.
Russia is adamant that nuclear arms should be deployed only in the territory of the states possessing such weapons.
US tactical nuclear arms should be withdrawn from Europe, Andrei Nesterenko, the Russian foreign ministry spokesman, said on Thursday.
"Issues of further nuclear disarmament, including tactical nuclear arms, should not be addressed as such, but only in close relation with other types of weapons, including conventional armed forces in Europe and the ballistic missile defence systems.
"In this context, withdrawal of American tactical weapons from Europe back to the United States would be welcome. It should be accompanied by complete and irreversible demolition of the entire infrastructures supporting the deployment of such weapons in Europe," he said.