Officials in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia on Friday denied any existing plans to house elements of a proposed US missile shield, after a US general said Washington "would like" to place a radar station in the Caucasus, DPA reported. In Moscow, meanwhile, despite the denials from the Caucasus republics, US Lieutenant General Henry Obering's comment that a radar facility in the Caucasus would be "very useful" sparked outcry. Following Obering's remarks Thursday in Brussels, the Azeri Defence Ministry said plans to house the US radar system on its territory "do not correspond to reality." In Yerevan, a defence spokesman said Armenia had not received any official requests from Washington, according to Russian media. Georgian Foreign Minister Gela Bezhuashvili ruled out the idea Washington had spoken to Tbilisi about the matter. Georgian lawmakers, though, left open the question of housing a facility in future, with parliamentarian Nika Rurua telling reporters, "If the United States needs to place the system in Georgia, the Georgian leadership will look into that question." Moscow has become vigorously opposed to Washington's missile- shield plans in the last month, with military officials threatening to aim rockets at possible facilities in Poland and the Czech Republic. The US has maintained that the shield would be targeted at so- called rogue states like Iran and North Korea and would be ineffective at stopping a Russian attack. The spectre of radar facilities in the Caucasus, however, a formerly Soviet area that Russia considers part of its historical sphere of influence, prompted stiff reactions from lawmakers and military officials Friday in Moscow. "We already have everything necessary to adequately answer to these facilities," Russian Air Force Commander General Vladimir Mikhailov was quoted by Itar-Tass as saying. "They have a lot of money. Let them waste it," the general added. Vladimir Pekhtin, a deputy speaker of Russia's lower house of parliament, said the shield would alter the military balance in Europe and "not aid the strengthening of strategic and partnerly relations between Moscow and Washington," Interfax news agency reported. US President George W Bush has spoken for years about installing a missile-defence shield across Europe and the US. The decision to house elements of the shield in former Eastern bloc nations, Poland and the Czech Republic, however, has caused Moscow to bristle recently saying among others that it had not been consulted by Washington.
