LOC22:57
19:57 GMT
BRUSSELS, May 11 (KUNA) -- Russian Chief of Staff, Army General Yuri
Baluyevski on Friday predicted that Iran could not attain nuclear war heads in
the near future.
His remarks came after meeting with European Union High Representative for
the Common Foreign and Security Policy Javier Solana here today, where they
discussed strengthening cooperation means in the field of security,
particularly in crisis management.
Moscow's concern with the US anti-missile defense system in Poland and the
Czech Republic was voiced in Baluyevski speech before a NATO-Russian military
meeting, where he also declared that his country was bailing out from the
Adapted Conventional Armed Forces in Europe Treaty.
After talks at NATO headquarters, General Baluyevski repeated Russia's
opposition to American plans to install anti-missile defenses in Europe and
dismissed US assertions that the defense lines were needed to defend against
potential threats from Iran.
The Treaty is a post-Cold War adaptation of the Treaty on Conventional
Armed Forces in Europe (CFE), signed in November 1999.
The main difference with the old treaty is that the ceilings given to NATO
and the Warsaw Pact have been replaced with territorial ones.(end)
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KUNA 112257 May 07NNNN