NATO Secretary General Jaapde Hoop Scheffer said Saturday that a planned missile defense system in eastern Europe is not possible to pose any threat to Russia.
"I have intellectually failed to understand that a radar and missile interception system can be of any threat to Russia," de Hoop Scheffer told a group of high-profile diplomats at a key security conference in Germany's southern city of Munich on Friday.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said earlier in the day that the United States and NATO are igniting a "new arms race" by planning to establish the missile defense system in Russia's neighboring Poland and the Czech Republic.
"It is clear that a new arms race has been unleashed in the world," Putin said, "It is not our fault, because we did not start it."
In response, de Hoop Scheffer said "maximum transparency" was needed to alleviate Russia's anger and ensure mutual trust.
The United States has agreed to integrate a planned U.S. anti-ballistic missile shield in eastern Europe with NATO's own short- and medium-range missile defense system, but a formal decision on the issue is only expected at a NATO summit in 2009.
Washington claimed that the missile defense system can cover most of the European allies, except Turkey and parts of Bulgaria, Romania and Greece.
The annual three-day security meeting, kicked off on Friday, was attended by high-profile diplomats including U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana this year.
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