Romania prepared to host US anti-ballistic interceptors

04 February, 2010, 18:24

Romania has announced it is ready to host anti-ballistic interceptors as part of a US missile shield in Eastern Europe. The move has already been approved by the country’s supreme defense council.

The plan has now been submitted to parliament for its backing. Romania’s President Traian Basescu says Romania was invited by the US to take part in its new missile shield program. This announcement<>

In September of 2009, president Obama said he intended to revamp the Bush-era plans for a shield in Eastern Europe, instead only placing Patriot missiles in Poland and possibly sea-based systems elsewhere.

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The new strategy proposed by Obama will be much more “formidable, comprehensive and powerful than that suggested by President Bush in 2007,” says independent political analyst Vladimir Kozin.

If the US chooses to accept the Romanian proposal it could jeopardize US-Russian relations and the START treaty negotiations, says Giulietto Chiesa, Italian politician and former Member of the European Parliament.

“President Medvedev and Prime Minister Putin have already said many times that this will seriously influence the balance of forces in Europe, which means that it will produce a very bad effect on US-Russian relations,” Chiesa said.

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