Missile shield talks stalled until 2012 summit

Russian European missile defence shield talks with Nato have been postponed until the May 2012 summit in Chicago, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko revealed.

RIA Novosti has reported the minister as saying the talks have not reached any agreement to date, however, Russia remained determined to keep looking for a practical cooperation with Nato.

The US has recently signed bilateral deals with Romania, Poland and Spain for the deployment of the missile shield elements.

Russia has maintained firm opposition to the deployment of missile-defence systems near its borders.

The nation has also demanded legally binding guarantees that include the system's configuration, location of the units and the speed of the interceptors, amongst other details.

The US and Nato have repeatedly claimed the missile shield is to protect Nato members from North Korean and Iranian missile attacks and not to direct them to Russia.