US Defence Secretary Robert Gates on Thursday said Russia's offer for American access to a radar station in Azerbaijan was no substitute for US plans to station elements of a missile shield in Eastern Europe, according to dpa. Gates said the US saw Russia's proposal for sharing the Azeri radar base as an "additional capability" to fend off missile attacks from the Middle East. But the US intended to proceed with plans to site elements of a missile defence shield in Poland and the Czech Republic, said Gates. NATO diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Gates had told NATO defence ministers that the Russian-owned Gabala station in Azerbaijan may be useful in tracking missile threats but would not allow protection against attacks. Echoing similar concerns, NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer told reporters the Russian proposal did not cross out the US plan to site some components of its missile defence system in Poland and the Czech Republic. "I do not have the impression...that the offer by President Putin is going to replace or be an alternative for the bilateral negotiations going on between the US and Poland and the US and the Czech Republic," said Scheffer. The NATO chief made his comments after alliance defence ministers met their Russian counterpart Anatoly Serdyukov at a meeting of NATO defence ministers. Putin, who is fiercely opposed to the stationing of the US missile shield in its former Warsaw Pact allies, said last week that he was ready to give the US access to a Russian-controlled radar in Gabala in Azerbaijan. The Russian president said this was a viable alternative to the stationing of radars in Poland and the Czech Republic. The US has said it intends to study the proposal in detail. But Gates said he did not believe such an assessment could take place before a Bush-Summit meeting early July. However, Gates welcomed the Russian offer as a welcome sign that Putin may be toning down his recent anti-Western rhetoric. "We appreciate President Putin's recognition of a missile threat," he said, repeating America's willingness to work in partnership with Russia on missile defence. The US defence chief insisted that NATO allies had not criticized the US missile defence plan. But he added: "There is obviously an interest in trying to encourage Russians to participate with us." NATO governments also wanted a toning down of rhetoric and the need for the US and Russia to deal with each one another in a "business-like manner," Gates said. Separately, NATO governments launched a study on the impact of US missile defence plans on the alliance's own strategy for protecting Europe from short- and long-range ballistic threats. "NATO will move forward to asses the political and military implications of the US missile system," alliance spokesman James Appathurai told reporters. Such a study would be ready by February next year, ahead of an alliance summit in Bucharest in April 2008, he said. NATO officials are expected to evaluate just how the US plan fits in with the alliance's goal of developing by 2010 a so-called "theatre" missile defence capability to protect deployed troops against short and medium-term range missiles. The study will also look at the future of NATO's long-term objective of protecting alliance territory against the full range of missile threats. While NATO is expected to pursue its "theatre" missile defence plan as a complement to the US blueprint, officials say the more ambitious - and more costly - long-term strategic defence plan will probably be abandoned in favour of the US alternative. Scheffer hinted at this, saying NATO would see if it was possible to develop a short and medium-term missile system which could be "bolted-on" to the US shield. Such a bolt-on option would ensure protection for Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania and Greece which are not covered by the US system. Scheffer pointed to the NATO principle of the "indivisibility of security," saying: "All allies are equal." Earlier Scheffer said Afghanistan needed help to improve security but also assistance for reconstruction, improved governance, police training, and the fight against drugs. The alliance talks in Brussels come amid growing concern at the number of civilian casualties resulting from incidents involving international forces. Seeking to stop the high civilian death toll, Scheffer has said he wants ministers to look at ways of increasing cooperation and improving communication between the Afghan army, NATO forces and US troops in the country. NATO is worried that the recent wave of civilian deaths and damage to civilian property in Afghanistan risks eroding European public support for the mission. It also damages NATO's drive to win the hearts and minds of Afghan people. The 36,000-strong NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan has soldiers from 37 countries, including many non-NATO members.
