EU probeert Russische bezorgdheid over VS-raketproject weg te nemen (en)

The EU has no plans to participate in a US anti-missile system but its member states are free to join, the bloc's foreign and security affairs chief said on Thursday (2 march) in an attempt to ease Russian concerns over the project.

"We are not as Europeans concerned to establish a mechanism of that type," said Javier Solana i, according to news agency AP. "This is for every country to decide."

Mr Solana was attending an informal EU defence ministers meeting in the German city of Wiesbaden on Thursday where US plans to build an anti-missile shield in Poland and the Czech Republic were discussed.

Washington has asked Warsaw and Prague, two of its strongest allies, to host a system aimed at intercepting ballistic missiles fired from, for example, Iran or North Korea - a plan which has been endorsed by key Polish and Czech politicians.

But the move has sparked strong criticism from Russia, with president Vladimir Putin telling a Munich security conference last month that the system would "completely neutralise'' the deterrence threat posed by Russia's own nuclear missiles.

Moscow may develop an "asymmetric response" of its own to "overcome'' such systems, he added.

Mr Solana countered these fears on Thursday. "Poland and the Czech Republic don't present a threat to anybody," he said, according to German agency DPA.

While it was "questionable" whether the EU faced any security threat today, the situation could change in the future, he added.

"We must do our utmost...to have good, solid relations with Russia," said Mr Solana, adding that the international community needed to discuss issues like Iran's nuclear programme and Middle East violence with Moscow.

He also insisted that since Mr Putin's speech "the situation is much more calm" adding, "I don't think we have to dramatize that."

EU states reduce troops in Bosnia

At the meeting in Wiesbaden, the 27 defence ministers also brought forward a move to cut their peacekeeping troops in Bosnia from 6,500 to around 2,500 this year, as security in the former hotspot has improved.

"As a first step, we want to withdraw around 3,500 soldiers, then watch what happens before we move on," said German defence minister Franz-Josef Jung, who hosted the gathering, reports Deutsche Welle.

"The situation in Bosnia is way better. Security is going very well," said Mr Solana, but he added that "politically there are still a lot of things to do."

He also urged Bosnia to continue with its police reforms.