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U.S. to replace Europe missile shield with 'proven' system - Obama

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U.S. President Barack Obama confirmed on Thursday that Washington was scrapping the Bush administration's plans for a missile shield in Central Europe.

MOSCOW, September 17 (RIA Novosti) - U.S. President Barack Obama confirmed on Thursday that Washington was scrapping the Bush administration’s plans for a missile shield in Central Europe.

“The best way to responsibly advance our security and the security of our allies is to deploy a missile defense system that best responds to the threats that we face and that utilizes technology that is both proven and cost effective,” he told a news conference.

The announcement came after Czech and Polish politicians said Obama had informed them that plans to deploy elements of a missile shield in their countries would no longer go ahead.

A Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman welcomed the reports of the move before Obama’s announcement.

“Such a development would be in line with the interests of our relations with the United States," a ministry press officer told RIA Novosti.

Although Washington had said that the shield was designed to guard against attacks from “rogue states” such as Iran, Moscow consistently objected to the missile shield plans as a threat to its national security.

“We have also repeatedly made clear to Russia that its concerns about our previous missile defense programs were entirely unfounded. Our clear and consistent focus has been the threat posed by Iran’s ballistic missile program,” Obama said.

The U.S. president also said that while Iran remained the focus of U.S. efforts, new information had indicated that the Islamic Republic’s short and medium range missiles were a greater threat than its long-range missiles.

“In confronting that threat we welcome Russia’s cooperation to bring its missile defense capabilities into a broader defense of our common strategic interests,” he added.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates said that the current threat from Iran required a new approach and that Washington would use Aegis ships equipped with interceptors to protect its European allies and U.S. troops.

"We have now the opportunity to deploy new censors and interceptors in northern and southern Europe that near term can provide missile defense coverage against more immediate threats from Iran or others," he said.

He also said that a second phase of missile defense could see land-based systems deployed in Eastern Europe from 2015.

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