The Czech government has sold the security of its own people for a new toy, the anti-missile defense system, Russian ambassador to NATO Dmitry Rogozin told the Czech news agency CTK in an email on Friday.
"The Czech government just sold the long-term safety of its very people for a brand new toy - air defense system," Rogozin said.
If the U.S. anti-missile radar base is established in the Czech Republic, Russia will have to react to the step, Rogozin said, adding that Russian missiles could be aimed at the base.
Rogozin said he regretted Russia being dragged into new arms races, according to CTK.
"I hope that the Czech parliament will be reasonable enough to rebut the risky venture," he said, hinting that the construction of the radar base could affect Czech-Russian economic relations.
According to Rogozin, economic questions were always related to political ones.
The Czech Republic imports most of its gas and petrol from Russia, CTK said.
However, the Czech government ignored the sayings from the Russian official.
"It is always the same virtual game and we see no reason to react," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zuzana Opletalova said.
The Czech Republic and the United States signed the SOFA treaty(Status of Forces Agreement) on the conditions of the presence of the American soldiers at the planned U.S. radar base, which is the second agreement connected with the base, in London the same day.
The main treaty on the radar base was signed by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg in early July.
Russia is strongly opposed to the deployment of the system, saying it poses a threat to its national security. Czech opposition parties and some 70 percent of the country's citizens also oppose the project.
Source:Xinhua
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