KIEV, June 10 (RIA Novosti) – The United States does not plan to establish an anti-missile defense system in Georgia or Ukraine, Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Victoria Nuland said Tuesday.
“There are no plans to place missile defense systems in Georgia or in Ukraine, either now or in the future,” she said at a briefing in Kiev on Tuesday.
Earlier US President Barack Obama stated that the United States intended to strengthen its presence in Eastern Europe and he would ask Congress to allocate an additional $1 billion. According to Obama, the United States would guarantee security not just to NATO member countries, but to their allies as well, including Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova.
NATO introduced several measures explained by the need to ensure security of its allies. Baltic Air Policing missions were intensified and additional NATO ships were sent to the Baltic and the Mediterranean seas. NATO also declared an increase in permanent troop deployment, expansion of training programs, strengthening of early warning systems and improving the capacity of response forces.
In response, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stated on Monday that NATO’s continuing efforts to expand closer to the Russian borders are counterproductive and in violation of obligations taken by the Alliance in the framework of several international agreements.
