Russia to Deploy Missile Shield if No Nato Agreement Reached

Russia will deploy a nuclear missile grouping if no agreement is reached with Nato on the implementation of a European missile defence system, President Dmitry Medvedev has said.

"We expect a direct and unambiguous answer from our Nato partners on where they see Russia's place in the system of the European missile defence," he said.

"Either we agree on certain principles with Nato and create a joint system to resolve missile defence tasks, or we do not agree, and then we will have to make a number of unpleasant decisions in the future regarding the deployment of a strike nuclear missile grouping," Medvedev added.

Russia and Nato had agreed to cooperate in the creation of a joint missile defence shield in Europe during a Nato-Russia Council meeting in Lisbon in November 2010.

The parties had agreed to formulate terms for missile defence cooperation by June 2011, according to RIA Novosti.