US plans to deploy missile defense system would pose a potential threat to Russia's security, a top Russian general said in an interview published on Thursday's Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper.
"I absolutely disagree with the claim that the missile defense is not a threat to Russia," Col.-Gen. Yuri Baluyevsky, the first deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Russian armed forces, told the daily.
"A missile defense is intended to engage any missiles or warheads that would fly toward a target or the country it protects," Baluyevsky said.
"Therefore, it's illogical to say that a missile defense isn't a threat to one country or another."
Meanwhile, the general said he doubted the United States had the ability to create a shield that would provide a "100 percent guarantee of interception of all warheads flying toward a target."
(Xinhua News Agency January 10, 2002)
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