U.S. fails to convince Russia on missile shield in Europe
"I would like to underscore that possible deployment of U.S. missile defense site in Europe is not something pleasant to us," Russian ambassador to NATO, Konstantin Totskiy, told reporters after a meeting with ambassadors from NATO countries and U.S. officials. 
"We are against the fact that such decisions are taken just unilaterally."
But he added that Russia will not be engaged in an arms race with the United States as its predecessor, the Soviet Union, did in the Cold War.
Russia would rather develop a cheaper "asymmetrical answer" to possible threats posed by the U.S. deployment, said the ambassador.
Totskiy said Russian and American experts hold different views on missile threats to Europe.
The two sides diverge on how soon the threats will come and the scale of them, he said. They also differ on the missile capability of Iran, which the United States has named as a possible source of threat.
Moscow has also concerns that the United States may increase the number of interceptor missiles.
The U.S. and NATO have been saying that the 10 interceptors planned for deployment in Poland do not pose a threat to Russia at all.
Totskiy argued that no nation, even a so-called rogue state, will be able to launch a massive missile attack on Europe unless it has 100 or even several hundred missiles.
Therefore, he argued, the U.S. might have to have more interceptors to shield Europe.
"We know by experience that when we have a system, we will continue its development because the system cannot stop at a point."
Russia's proposal in this situation is to use diplomatic and political measures to prevent certain countries from having so many missiles, he said.
On U.S. offers to have more cooperation with Russia in terms of missile defense, such as sharing early warning data, interoperability of theater missile defense systems and joint exercises, Totskiy said Russia is ready to cooperate, but only on equal footing.
The United States is negotiating with Poland and the Czech Republic for the deployment of interceptor missiles and a radar tracking system in the two countries respectively.
Washington says the system would be able to help most of its European allies fend off long-range missile attacks.
Director of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency, Lt. Gen. Henry Obering, Undersecretary of Defense Eric Edelman, and chief of the U.S. State Department's non-proliferation bureau, John Rood, presented the U.S. plans to its NATO allies and Russia.
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