The United States is ready to cooperate with Russia toward the creation of a global missile defense system, the U.S. Ambassador to Russia said on Monday.
"We will continue this dialogue so that Russia and we can work together on the creation of a global missile defense system," John Beyrle said in Russian while speaking to students and staff at a Moscow university.
U.S.-Russia relations have seen a dramatic increase since Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama announced last year a new policy of resetting bilateral ties and overcoming Cold-War era set-backs.
Although Obama scrapped last September earlier plans to deploy missile defense elements in the Czech Republic and Poland, Washington has not given up on its European missile shield initiative.
In May, the United States opened a temporary military base in northern Poland, just 80 km (50 miles) from the border of Russia's Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad, in accordance with an agreement negotiated under former President George Bush in 2008 - a move which drew much criticism from Russia.
The United States is also in talks with Bulgaria and Romania on deploying elements of the U.S. missile shield on their territories from 2015.
MOSCOW, June 28 (RIA Novosti)
