Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, said today that he had asked
Russia not to deploy missiles in response to US plans for a missile defence shield in eastern Europe.
Speaking at a joint news conference with the Russian president, Dmitry Medvedev, following a Russia-EU summit in Nice, Sarkozy said Medvedev had responded positively to his proposal.
Medvedev announced last week that Moscow would deploy missiles in its western outpost of Kaliningrad in response to US plans for an anti-missile defence shield in Poland and the Czech Republic.
"I indicated to President Medvedev how concerned we were about this declaration and how there should be no deployment in any enclave until we have discussed new geopolitical conditions for pan-European security," Sarkozy said.
Sarkozy, the current holder of the rotating EU presidency, said he had proposed that the EU and Russia hold talks on the future of European security in the middle of next year.
"As president of the European Union, I proposed that in mid-2009 we meet ... to lay the foundation for what could be the future of European security," he said.
In a criticism of the US, Sarkozy said missile defence facilities in Europe would only complicate the situation and did "nothing" for Europe's security.
"Between now and then, don't talk about deployment of a missile shield which does nothing to bring security and complicates things," the French president said.
The US insists that its anti-missile shield is to protect allies from threats from the Middle East, not Russia.
On EU-Russian cooperation, the president of the European commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, confirmed that the EU would resume partnership talks with Russia that had been put on hold over the war with Georgia.
The talks were suspended in September after a short war between Russia and Georgia over the latter's breakaway provinces of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Critics say it is too early to resume talks because Russia maintains troops in the provinces.
The partnership and cooperation talks, which began in 2007, aim for greater economic integration and cooperation on security and justice.
Despite some reservations, EU states agreed on Monday to resume talks on a broad partnership pact. The two sides are expected to discuss a date for the talks.
The EU has strong incentives to maintain good relations with Russia as Moscow is the EU's third largest trading partner and a leading supplier of gas and oil.
