Russia demands “clarity” over Missile Shield and a new strategic forces treaty

While on a visit to Singapore, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said today that the U.S. has done little to “ensure transparency” over its Missile Shield plans.

“We [Russia] emphasized the necessity of actually bringing some clarity to the situation around the missile shield, in so much as the promises made to us by our U.S. colleagues for transparency and building trust have not as yet materialized into anything concrete and tangible,” Lavrov told journalists.

Poland, in whose borders the missile site will be located, already rejected a possible provision allowing Russian observers to station themselves permanently at the site to make sure the system was not directed against Russia.

In addition to working on a compromise involving transparency, Lavrov said U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has promised a rewriting of a conventional arms treaty that would determine limits to forces and bases Russia and NATO would be allowed to build up in Europe–something that Russia has long sought.

The previous conventional arms treaty was suspended by then Russian President Vladimir Putin in April last year. Technically, however, NATO had already violated the treaty vis-à-vis its eastward expansion. Russia opposes the Missile Shield primarily because it represents a continuation of NATO force build-up in the region and possibly an escalation given the current rocky relations between the United States and Russia.

Frankly, despite all the news about the possibility of Russian bombers in Cuba, I think Lavrov’s comments show that Russia still would prefer a diplomatic solution to the stand-off over the Missile Shield. I sincerely doubt, however, these comments will appear anywhere in the American press.