Blic Online in English | In focus | NATO anti-missile shield over Serbia as well
Romania suggesting Pentagon to place shield in south-east of Europe, too
NATO anti-missile shield over Serbia as well
Author: N. Jaćimović - T. N-Đaković | 26.11.2007 - 00:03
NATO is considering construction of anti-missile shield that would protect the Alliance members in the East and Southeast Europe. The idea that apart from the northern shield in Poland and the Czech Republic, there is another, southern shield, has originated from Bucharest. At the moment the position of Serbia that would be technically covered by that shield is not being mentioned.
‘The anti-missile shield would cover Serbia and we should not be the only one remaining aside’, military analyst Zoran Dragisic says for ‘Blic’.
No doubt our participation in that project shall depend on Serbia’s readiness to cooperate with NATO. Dragisic says that placement of the southern shield would be another reason for Serbia’s joining NATO.
Milan Gojkovic, director of the Directorate for NATO within Serbia Foreign Ministry, reminds that our representatives do not participate in discussions at NATO HQ and therefore do not know what NATO plans are.
‘I do not know if Romania has got positive signals from the USA or if Washington is interested in financing the shield. It is known that at NATO summit in Bucharest next year, Romania shall initiate discussion on issue’, he says.
Russian opposition
Romanian proposal is presently commented in Russia unofficially only. However, it is quite certain that Russia’s stance towards the shield in the Balkans would be equally cold as towards the one in Poland and the Check Republic.
‘Since that shield would be directed against Russia and not against the Muslim countries, it is clear that for Serbia, still seen among potential Russian allies, there is no room in those plans’, Jelena Guskova, chief of the center for studying of the Balkan crisis within Russian Academy of Sciences says for ‘Blic’.
NATO wants Serbia
Barbora Maronkov of NATO diplomatic department in Brussels said yesterday that ‘Brussels is disappointed over negative stance that Serbia public has towards country’s eventual membership in NATO’.
‘NATO would like Serbia to become its member since Serbia is a key factor of the stability in the West Balkans’, Maronkova said.