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Sarkozy questions US missile shield plan

(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-11-15 09:11

Sarkozy said he would discuss the missile issue with NATO counterparts at a summit early next year and proposed a pan-European security conference after that, under the auspices of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. Russia and the United States are members of the OSCE.

France's President Nicolas Sarkozy (L), welcomes Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev (R) at the start of a EU-Russia summit in Nice, November 14, 2008. Pictured at rear is Christian Estrosi, the mayor of Nice. [Agencies]

Medvedev welcomed the idea, and suggested Russia would wait to decide on its missile deployment until then.

"We should stay away from any unilateral moves" until the conference is held, he said.

Sarkozy has generally been hawkish on Iran and allied himself more closely with Bush than his predecessor Jacques Chirac. But Sarkozy is also clearly looking ahead to his relations with Bush's successor.

Medvedev stuck to Russia's stance. He suggested that the Russian threat to install missiles in the Baltic Sea region of Kaliningrad, announced just hours after Obama's election, was "a response to the behavior of certain European states that agreed to deploy new (missile defenses) on their own territories without consulting anyone."

Friday's summit made a key step toward rapprochement between Russia and the European Union: The EU announced the resumption of partnership talks with Russia that had been put on hold because of the war in Georgia.

Sarkozy, temporarily in charge of the 27-nation EU, insisted that the resumption wasn't "a sign of weakness."

He and Medvedev remained divided, though, over the continuing presence of Russian troops.

The European Union is Russia's No. 1 customer and No. 1 investor, and heavily dependent on Russian energy. With the world financial crisis shaking markets in Europe and beyond, officials of the 27-nation EU say reaching out to Moscow is crucial to ensuring stability and to keeping Russia from shutting off its economy to outsiders.

Medvedev pointed on Friday to the lucrative trade between the EU and Russia, worth hundreds of billions of euros annually.

"We should think of this when we make decisions on all cooperation," he said.

The EU-Russia talks, launched in 2007, aim for an agreement that would increase economic integration, tighten relations on justice and security and boost cooperation in education and science.

Sarkozy and Medvedev left France for Washington, where they will join Bush and other world leaders seeking a new financial architecture.

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