White House to Hold Firm on European Missile Shield
July 1, 2009
CBS News
Mark Knoller
In advance of Pres. Obama’s first trip to Russia next week, the White House is serving notice on the Kremlin that he won’t be making any concessions to win its approval of a U.S. missile shield in Europe or membership in NATO for Russian neighbors Ukraine and Georgia.
“We don’t need the Russians,” says Michael McFaul, special assistant to the president and senior director for Russian affairs on the National Security Council staff. …
“We’re definitely not going to use the word reassure in the way that we talk about these things,” said McFaul. “We’re not going to reassure or give or trade anything with the Russians regarding NATO expansion or missile defense.”
He said Pres. Obama will talk “very frankly” with Medvedev about U.S. national security interests and “see if there are ways we can have Russia cooperate on those things.”
Pres. Obama has pledged to reset U.S. relations with Russia, but McFaul said there’d be no concessions on missile defense or NATO “in the name of reset.”
He said Mr. Obama will make the case that Russia can play a role in enhancing its own security with respect to missile defense. …
www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/07/01/politics/politicalhotsheet/entry5128736.shtml
