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| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| Romania 'to host missile shield' | Romania 'to host missile shield' |
| (20 minutes later) | |
| Romania has agreed to host missile interceptors as part of a new US defence shield, its president says. | Romania has agreed to host missile interceptors as part of a new US defence shield, its president says. |
| President Traian Basescu said the plan was approved by the supreme defence council. It still needs parliamentary approval. | President Traian Basescu said the plan was approved by the supreme defence council. It still needs parliamentary approval. |
| US President Barack Obama last year scrapped a previous version of the shield, involving Poland and the Czech Republic. | US President Barack Obama last year scrapped a previous version of the shield, involving Poland and the Czech Republic. |
| The shield had poisoned relations between the US and Russia. | The shield had poisoned relations between the US and Russia. |
| Mr Basescu said the system would "protect the whole of Romania's territory", but stressed that it "is not directed against Russia". | Mr Basescu said the system would "protect the whole of Romania's territory", but stressed that it "is not directed against Russia". |
| The US has insisted that its defence shield was designed to protect its allies against attack from "rogue states" like Iran, and was not aimed at Russia. | |
| Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, however, said the system would upset the strategic balance. | |
| Mr Obama's decision to abandon the original plan in September was greeted with enthusiasm in Russia, and came amid attempts to "reset" the relationship between Washington and Moscow. | |
| But the US did not say it was abandoning missile defence altogether - just that it would look at other ways of doing it. | |
| In October, Poland said it was ready to join a smaller-scale plan, hosting a US base equipped with short-range missiles, rather than the much bigger system favoured by former President George W Bush. | |
| It was thought the new system would be largely sea-based. |