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U.S. plans to base a missile-defense system in eastern
Europe are a pretext to encroach on Russia’s borders, said Dmitry
Rogozin, the Russian envoy to NATO.

“Maybe it’s against Iran, but that same system
can be targeted against any other country, including Russia’s strategic
nuclear potential,” Rogozin said in an interview on state broadcaster
Rossiya 24 today. “The U.S. is using Iran’s actions to globalize its
system of missile defense.”

Rogozin, a nationalist politician who was
dispatched to NATO two years ago, was reacting to Romania’s decision
yesterday to join a proposed U.S. missile shield. Romania, a former
Soviet ally, joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in 2004.

Russia objected to plans by the Bush
administration to set up a missile defense shield in Poland and the
Czech Republic, designed to fend off an Iranian attack. President Barack
Obama scrapped those plans in September as part of his “reset” to
improve U.S.-Russian relations.