NATO commander Admiral James G. Stavridis was scheduled to discuss a controversial European missile shield plan with top Kremlin officials on Monday, as Russia's top diplomat threatened quick retaliation if Brussels went through with the plan dpa reported.
Stavridis was set to meet Nikolai Markov, chief of Russia's army general staff, for talks on a US initiative to field missile defence systems to protect NATO nations from a possible strike from the Middle East.
Russian and NATO delegations also were planning to discuss cooperation in anti-piracy operations in the Gulf of Aden, the Interfax news agency reported.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Monday repeated his government's longstanding opposition to the planned NATO anti-missile network, saying Moscow would retaliate quickly if the system were actually built.
"We are being told the system is not directed against us, but they (NATO) are refusing to make a formal commitment by treaty. We could retaliate without making a serious effort or facing substantial costs."
Lavrov in a Monday interview with Profil magazine said NATO's planned missile shield would, once operational, be able to shoot down intercontinental ballistic missiles as well as missile-launched missiles - neither of which weapons exist in Middle East.
"The only nation whose weapons this system could affect, is Russia," Lavrov said.
NATO's leadership is pushing for the deployment of missile shield weapons and early detection sites in Poland, the Czech Republic, Romania, Turkey, Portugal and Spain. The network would use land- and sea-based systems to intercept a missile fired from the south or east.
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