Russia denies it plans military presence in Serbia By DUSAN STOJANOVIC Associated Press 2010-02-17 11:08 PM
Russia's minister for emergency situations said Wednesday his country does not plan to set up a military base in Serbia that could spy on a planned U.S. missile shield to be deployed in neighboring countries. Sergey Shoigu said such reports in Serbian and foreign media are "complete nonsense." The reports began in October when it was announced during Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's visit that the Kremlin and Belgrade had agreed to form a joint "emergency response center" at an airport in the central Serbian city of Nis. Shoigu said the center will house emergency relief experts and their equipment, and is intended to fight major forest fires, flooding, earthquakes and other natural disasters. He said the center will offer emergency relief aid throughout the Balkans. But, some military experts have said the base would be ideally located to spy on neighboring Romania and Bulgaria, where an U.S. anti-ballistic missile interceptors are likely to be installed as part of the revamped U.S. missile shield. It could also serve as an observation post for NATO activities in neighboring Kosovo. That would be Kremlin's first military base since the end of the cold war in Europe, and could represent a response to NATO's rapid expansion in the Balkan region. It would also mean that Serbia _ which was never a member of any military alliance _ would breach its declared military neutrality. Fueling the media speculation was an announcement that the center will be run by Russia's powerful ministry for emergency situations, an organization that includes parts of the country's armed security services. "I am inviting everybody, this will not be a closed object, it will be a fully open location, a humanitarian center," Shoigu said. "Whoever has any doubts can come and check, but it would be good if they would apologize once they take a look." Officials at NATO headquarters in Brussels said they were unaware of any plans to build an emergency response center by Serbia or Russia. But as members of the alliance's outreach Partnership for Peace (PfP) program, both countries had the right to cooperate in disaster relief and other emergency response, they said. "We welcome member nations collaborating on such measures, which are part and parcel of the PfP program," said an official who could not be identified according to standing regulations. ___ Associated Press writers Jovana Gec in Belgrade and Slobodan Lekic in Brussels contributed to this report. http://www.etaiwannews.com/etn/news_content.php?id=1182902&lang=eng_news