Rueters

 

Russia Wants Radar Role but Norway Against It

 

June 22, 2000, 10:49 a.m. ET

 

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia got a swift rebuff on Thursday after it suggested its experts work with Norwegians at a controversial U.S.-built radar station in Arctic Norway which Moscow fears is part of Washington’s anti-missile defense plan.

The United States and Norway say the station outside the Norwegian town of Vardoe near the Russian border is suited only to track space debris and is for peaceful purposes.

Russia says the Have Stare, or Globus 2, radar has broader military uses and violates the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) treaty. It sees the station as part of U.S. preparations for a proposed National Missile Defense system which it opposes.

“Russia has some of the world’s leading experts for space debris. Norwegian and Russian experts can inspect the radar together,” Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said, according to Norway’s NTB news agency.

“Russia can also take part in the further development of the radar,” he said, clearly seeking to call the West’s bluff.

Russian news agencies carried similar reports of his remarks in the Norwegian city of Bergen, where he was attending a meeting of Baltic region states.

“Such a step ‘could help to alleviate a number of mutual concerns and build confidence’,” Interfax news agency quoted him as saying. “This is not an official proposal, just my thinking out loud,” Ivanov said, according to RIA news agency.

Either way, Norwegian Foreign Minister Thorbjoern Jagland bluntly rebuffed Ivanov, who Russian agencies said made the suggestion during a stroll around Bergen with Jagland.

“There’s no question of cooperating with the Russians on the development of the Vardoe radar,” he told NTB.

“Norwegian authorities have provided Russian authorities with technical details about this radar. I can guarantee that the radar will not be used to undermine the ABM treaty, of which Norway is one of the strongest defenders,” he said.

“It’s unreasonable to continue debate about this, making us repeat our view time after time,” he said. Jagland also rejected a plea by the Russians to inspect the radar.

“I see no need for that.” But he said he did not think the radar would disrupt ties between Russia and Norway.

A seasoned diplomat, Ivanov rarely speaks off the cuff and must have clearly understood that any publicly stated suggestion would be studied by other countries.

There was no immediate comment from the United States, which is in talks with Russia to bridge their differences on ABM.

The United States wants to be able to amend the treaty to allow it to deploy a limited missile defense. Russia says this would undermine global security.

Russia and the United States agreed at a summit earlier this month to open a joint early-warning center in Moscow to detect missile launches.

Last week in Berlin, Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed that Europe provide representatives to work at the center too. He did not elaborate on which European institution he had in mind.

Putin has already proposed setting up a pan-European anti-missile defense with NATO that would shoot down missiles from so-called rogue states soon after they are launched rather than while already heading to their targets.

Russia argues that its proposal would not violate the ABM treaty because it would involve theater weapons rather than strategic missiles. Washington has not ruled out working with Russia on such a scheme but says the technology is too far down the road.

Other countries in the Commonwealth of Independent States, which groups 12 ex-Soviet republics, agreed on Wednesday to back the Russian proposal.