The NATO missile defense shield has been a source of tension between the US and Russia, particularly because of the location of the proposed missile bases. And, as Evgeny Buzhinsky, retired lieutenant-general and Co-Chairman of Joint US-Russia group on missile defense cooperation from 2002 to 2008, said in an interview with the Voice of Russia, unwillingness of the United States to cooperate with Russia on this issue is the main problem."The main Russian concern and the main Russian objective is that the US are going on with their deployment without any consultations whatsoever with the Russian side. That’s the main concern,” Buzhinsky told the VoR.
Romania, a NATO-member country, has broken ground on one of the new bases, located in the south of the country. Meanwhile, Poland is the location of another proposed missile site.
Russia has expressed concern in the past about these missiles being placed in Eastern Europe, ostensibly, in Russia’s backyard.
"After the Moscow treaty was signed there was a joint statement of agreeing to establish three joint groups on military cooperation on strategic offensive weapons or missile defense against terrorism. They were quite successful until the Bush administration decided to go on with their missile defense plans,” the expert said.
He also noted, at that time the most irritating factor was Poland and a radar in the Czech Republic, because the missiles in Poland theoretically could intercept the Russian ICBMs launch from the European part of the country and the Czech radar actually covered the European part of the Russian Federation.
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