Russian Missiles in Bulgaria Key for Joint Missile Defense - Expert

Gen. Dvorkin (right) suggests using Russian S-300 missiles as interceptors in a NATO-Russia missile shield. Photo by daylife.com

A Russian strategic studies scholar has suggested the full-fledged cooperation between NATO and Russia on missile defense in Europe would require stationing Russian missiles in Bulgaria and Romania.

According to Gen. Vladimir Dvorkin, former head of the Fourth Central Scientific Institute of the Russian Defense Ministry, which is change of its strategic arms, it is in Russia’s interest to cooperate with the USA and NATO with respect to the setting up a missile shield in Europe.

“In order for Russia to be able to participate in such cooperation, we could suggest a very effective move: the Russian general stuff should request the stationing of our missile systems S-300 in Bulgaria or Romania,” stated Dvorkin during a seminar at the Moscow Carnegie Center on the ratification of START II treaty on nuclear armanents.

His statement was published in Bulgarian on the website of “The Voice of Russia”, the Russian state radio broadcasting abroad.

According to Gen. Dvorkin, who is an international studies scholar, the Russian missiles S-300 are superior to the American missile complexes THAAD and Patriot, and, if stationed as part of a joint missile defense in Bulgaria and Romania, in the future they could be replaced with the more modern missiles S-400 or S-500.

“Then we will be able to really talk about a cooperation not just in the field of the information systems,” says Dvorkin while pointing out that if Russia and the United States fail to establish strong cooperation within a missile defense system, the two powers will be faced with a new crisis in their relations.

According to recent statements of American government officials, the USA has not asked Bulgaria formally to host elements of the planned US-NATO missile defense in Europe.

The Bulgarian government has made it clear that it expects the missile shield in Europe project of the Obama Administration, which supplanted an earlier Bush Administration plan, to become an initiative of all NATO member states. This is expected to happen during th NATO summit in Lisbon in the fall of 2010.

NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen favors Russia’s inclusion into the project; however, it is still unclear if NATO and Russia will come to an agreement about the specific parameters of the shield.

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