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Russia Says No Decision Yet On INF Treaty


Sergei Lavrov (file photo) (ITAR-TASS) February 16, 2007 -- Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says Moscow has not decided whether to withdraw from a Cold War-era treaty eliminating intermediate- and short-range missiles in Europe.

Russian armed forces Chief of Staff General Yury Baluyevsky said earlier this week that Moscow would consider withdrawing from the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty if the United States went ahead with plans to build a missile-defense system in Europe.

Lavrov said today a final decision had not been reached.

Speaking in Warsaw earlier in today, General John Craddock, the NATO supreme allied commander, said Russia had nothing to fear from the missile-defense system.

Craddock said the system would provide security from attacks by "rogue regimes."

The United States has proposed placing elements of the missile shield in Poland and the Czech Republic.

(Interfax, ITAR-TASS, Reuters)

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