Missile defense may be dangerous obstacle in Russia-U.S. ties

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is currently on a working visit to Washington, where the U.S. missile defense system is a key issue on the agenda. Differences over missile defense have remained a delicate subject since the Cold War, and despite recent progress with the New START treaty, divisions persist.  In an interview with RIA Novosti’s Samir Shakhbaz, Alexei Fenenko, PhD., chief research fellow at the Institute of International Security Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, asserts that the United States and Europe should address Russia’s regional sensitivities if a viable compromise on missile defense is to be developed.