The U.S. announced in January plans to place a radar and a host of interceptor missiles in Poland and the Czech Republic to fend off what Washington sees as a growing missile threat from "rogue states," including Iran.
"In analyzing the Iranian leader's statement and the quite precise information at our disposal, we can see no such long-term threat," Sergei Lavrov told the media on the sidelines of a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) underway in the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said earlier Thursday that the deployment of a U.S. missile shield in Europe threatened not only Iran but also the whole of Eurasia.
Asked when Russian and U.S. experts would hold a second round of consultations on the proposed U.S. missile shield, the minister said: "In September."
Lavrov also said that although Russia and China had not yet considered cooperation in missile defense, the two countries "share a vision of how to provide security." "We and China are analyzing the U.S. global missile defense plans targeting Europe and the East," the diplomat said.
The SCO, a regional group largely seen as a counterweight to U.S. influence in Asia, comprises Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, and has Iran, India, Pakistan and Mongolia as observers.
