US - Russia continue missile shield row

Russia said yesterday that Washington is sceptical about Moscow's proposed alternative to the US missile defence shield in Europe because the real aim of the shield is to track Russian territory.

The US and Russia have been bickering over Washington's plans to deploy a European missile shield which Russia says will hurt its national interests.

President Vladimir Putin has proposed using a Russian operated radar station at Qabala in Azerbaijan as an alternative to deploying the shield in the Czech Republic and Poland. But the Pentagon says Qabala cannot be a substitute.

"When our American colleagues say that Qabala will not replace a radar in the Czech republic, I understand them because Qabala cannot see Russian territory from its western borders to the Urals and the Czech radar can," Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an interview with state-owned Rossiya television.

The US says it needs to defend itself from missiles possibly launched by "rogue states" such as Iran and North Korea.