Learn mandarin - Bush says Russia not a threat to Europe

WORLD / America

Bush says Russia not a threat to Europe

(Reuters)
Updated: 2007-06-06 20:18

HEILIGENDAMM, Germany - US President George W. Bush said on Wednesday
that Russia did not pose a threat to Europe despite a vow to target the
continent if the US deploys a missile shield in central Europe.

"Russia is not going to attack Europe," Bush told reporters at the start
of a G8 summit on the Baltic coast.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who will come face to face with Bush at
the summit, has said Russia will resume its Cold War stance of targeting
its missiles at Europe if Washington goes ahead with a planned missile
shield on Russia's borders.

Asked if the US military should respond in some way to Putin's warning,
Bush said that was not needed because: "Russia is not an enemy"

Responding to a question about whether his meeting with Putin in
Heiligendamm would be tense, Bush said: "I'll work to see to it, that
it's not (tense)."

Washington wants to site elements of its planned missile shield in Poland
and the Czech Republic. It says the systems are needed to defend against
possible missile attacks from what it calls "rogue states" such as Iran
and North Korea.

The Kremlin is fiercely opposed to the plan, saying the shield upsets the
global strategic balance. Putin has voiced suspicions that the project is
really targeted at Russia.

Differences over the dispute have brought US-Russian relations to their
lowest point in years and could overshadow a G8 summit intended to focus
on climate change and aid to Africa.

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