Russia should not react to Transnistria's Iskander missiles offer
Russia should not react to the proposal made by the president of the unrecognized Dniester Moldovan republic, Igor Smirnov, to station Russian missile systems Iskander on its territory. This opinion was expressed by the deputy director of the USA and Canada Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Pavel Zolotarev, in a conversation with an ITAR-TASS correspondent on Feb. 17.
"This proposal had been dictated exclusively by selfish interests and desire to remind of oneself. It is extremely disadvantageous for Moscow to react to such statements and there are no reasons for this since such statements are often made exclusively for political aims to form a corresponding public opinion with the use of the mass media," he said.
In Zolotarev's opinion, the readiness to station components of the American missile-defence system on the territory of Eastern European countries which they now express is to a large extent related to their "pragmatic desire to obtain missile-defence systems comparable to the Russian S-300 practically for free".
"This is one of the main reasons for taking such decisions. And therefore, Russian reaction to such steps should be appropriate," he expressed the conviction.
It is another matter that the creation of the missile-defence system in Europe will essentially mean drawing a dividing line between NATO countries and those who are not members of the alliance. "And Russia remains outside this system," Zolotarev noted.
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