MOSCOW — Russia said Saturday that it will scrap a plan to deploy missiles near Poland since Washington has dumped a planned missile shield in Eastern Europe. It also harshly criticized Iran's president for new comments denying the Holocaust.
It still remains unclear whether Moscow will make any more concessions on Iran and other issues in response to President Barack Obama's move to scrap the Bush-era plan for U.S. missile defense in Poland and the Czech Republic.
Russia's Deputy DefenseMinister Vladimir Popovkin told Ekho Moskvy radio Saturday that Obama's move has made the deployment of Iskander short-range missiles in the Kaliningrad region unnecessary.
He described Obama's move as "victory of reason over ambitions."
"Naturally, we will cancel countermeasures which Russia has planned in response, one of which was the deployment of Iskander missiles in the Kaliningrad region," Popovkin said.
Popovkin's statement was the most explicit declaration yet of Russia's intention to scrap the plan after Obama'sdecision, which was announced Thursday.
Popovkin later added, however, that the final decision on the subject can only be made by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Russian news agencies reported. Medvedev hasn't yet spoken on the issue.
Russia staunchly opposed the plan by the former administration of President George W. Bush to deploy 10 missile interceptors in Poland and a related radar in the Czech Republic and said if the project went ahead it would respond by deploying the Iskander missiles in its westernmost Baltic Sea region.
Obama's decision to scrap the plan was based largely on a new U.S. intelligence assessment that Iran's effort to build a nuclear-capable long-range missile would take three to five years longer than originally thought, U.S. officials said. The new U.S. missiledefense plan would rely on a network of sensors and interceptor missiles based at sea, on land and in the air as a bulwark against Iranian shortand medium-range missiles.
Medvedev hailed Obama's decision as a "responsible move," but Russian officials have given no indication yet that Moscow could make concessions in other areas,including Iran. Washington is counting on Moscow to help raise pressure on Tehran over its nuclear program. The Kremlin has previously criticized Tehran for questioning the reality of the Holocaust, but Russian leaders have refused to back Western efforts to toughen sanctions against Iran.
On Saturday, the Russian Foreign Ministry harshly criticized Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for his Friday comments, in which he again questioned whether the Holocaust was a "real event."
Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenkocalled the Iranian remarks "absolutely unacceptable" and insulting to the memory of the World War II victims.
"It won't help create a favorable international atmosphere for starting and conducting an efficient dialogue on issues regarding Iran," Nesterenko said in a statement.
Officials from the United States, Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany are to meet Iranian diplomats in Turkey on Oct. 1, for the first time since a 2008 session in Geneva collapsed over Iran's refusal to discuss its uranium enrichment program.
The U.S., Israel and the European Union fear that Iran is using its nuclear program to develop weapons.
Tehran says the program serves purely civilian purposes.
Also on Saturday, Popovkin said that Russia has been negotiating the possible purchase of a military ship built in France.
He said it's too early to say whether an agreement for buying a Mistral-class helicopter carrier can be reached, but he said it could mark an important step in modernizing the Russian navy.
If a deal goes through, it would be the first foreign ship Russia's navy has bought in decades, and the first ever to come from a NATO nation.
Popovkin told Ekho Moskvy radio Saturday that along with the ship Russia was seeking to acquire technologies that would help raise the level of domestic shipbuilding industries.
"We are discussing the ship's purchase and, at the same time, we are talking about having facilities to produce such ships in Russia," he said.
Officials at the French Defense Ministry would not comment Saturday about the possible sale. French media have reported in recent weeks that the Russians are interested in a Mistral-class carrierand are studying different options.
Popovkin said French technologies could help Russia build its own aircraft carriers. He said Russian shipbuilders strongly oppose the purchase.
Front Section, Pages 9, 14 on 09/20/2009