Russia demands missile guarantees from US:official

MOSCOW - Moscow hopes Washington could give it long-demanded missile defense guarantees following the reelection of President Barack Obama, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said Thursday.

"We need guarantees, better put on paper, that the missile defense system being built in Europe is targeting against short and medium range missiles," Rogozin said at an international conference on nuclear weapons and global security.

Russia didn't buy oral promises and expected written assurances that the missile shield "is not aimed at Russia," Rogozin added.

However, the declared parameters of the missile defense program covers the Russian territory currently and could intercept Russian heavy missiles. "The missile defense system may not be against us but it is about us," Interfax news agency quoted Rogozin as saying.

Moscow repeatedly demands legally binding guarantees that the US-led NATO missile shield would aim at only missile threats emanating from outside the Euro-Atlantic region, that is, not from Russia.

At the 2010 NATO summit in Lisbon, Portugal, leaders agreed to install a ballistic missile defense system in Europe, and the alliance invited Russia to participate in the scheme.