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				Putin Says Pan-Europe ABM System Possible

June 15, 2000, By Adam Tanner

BERLIN (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin outlined a vision Thursday of a pan-European defense shield against incoming missiles and insisted that, despite U.S. doubts, his plan was technologically possible.

"Our cooperation could take the form of building a non-strategic missile defense system, reliably covering all of Europe from the Atlantic to the Urals,'' Putin told several hundred German business leaders.

"Russia is ready for such cooperation and has concrete technical proposals for this. We think this is all possible technically and technologically. All we need is the political will,'' he said.

Missile defense has become a top issue in Russia's relations after the United States announced its intention to build its own system to protect against "rogue states'' like North Korea.

Moscow and European capitals have expressed concern about such a system.

Putin Calls U.S. Plans "Dangerous''

Putin called present U.S. plans "very dangerous'' that could have serious consequences if they destroyed the balance of power.

"There is now no risk of all-out war in Europe,'' he said. ''But that is no reason for complacency. Realizing plans for a National Missile Defense would be a blow especially in Europe.''

Putin said his summit last week with President Clinton had shown that they had some ideas in common.

"We must act -- only together,'' he said.

"If we allow ourselves to destroy the balance of forces and interests that exist in global security, this could have very serious consequences,'' he said, adding that Europe would be the first affected as parts of the U.S. system would be based there.

"What would Russia do then?'' he asked. "It would be obliged to react in an appropriate way as if it were deployed on the territory of Europe and directed against Russia. What would NATO then do? Would Russia respond? And what's that called? It's called a new armament spiral. We think that's very dangerous. Can we find a way out? I'm sure we can.''

Putin also warned that the ambitions of ex-Soviet Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania to join NATO, if realized, would bring the alliance to the Russian border.

"(NATO enlargement) does not serve to strengthen European security,'' he said. "Naturally we have to ask the question why is NATO moving toward our frontiers?

"Do we not have the right to think of our security? We have not only the right but a duty, for the sake of the security of all. Because if a country like Russia felt itself to be in danger, it would destabilize the situation both in Europe and across the world.''

He called instead for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe to be upgraded into a full-blown regional security forum, and spoke of the importance of working with the European Union.

He also called for more work on creating a nuclear-free zone in central and eastern Europe and for discussions on expanding the CFE treaty on conventional forces in Europe to naval and air forces.

"I'm convinced that all these measures would put down a solid basis for peace and stability on the continent for the 21st century,'' he said to polite applause.