Russia may not let NATO use its territory to supply troops in Afghanistan if the alliance doesn’t seriously consider its objections to a US-led missile shield for Europe, Russia’s ambassador to NATO Dmitri Rogozin has said. Russia has stepped up its objections to the antimissile system in Europe, threatening last week to deploy its own ballistic missiles on the border of the European Union to counter the move, the Wall Street Journal has reported.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) says the shield is meant to thwart an attack from a “rogue state” such as Iran, that it poses no threat to Russia, and that the alliance will go ahead with the plan despite Moscow’s objections. If NATO doesn’t give a serious response, “we have to address matters in relations in other areas,” a Russian news agency quoted Rogozin as saying. He added that Russia’s cooperation on Afghanistan may be an area for review.
Threats to the NATO supply line through Russia come at an awkward time for the alliance. NATO has become increasingly reliant on the Russian route as problems in Pakistan – its primary supply route – have escalated. Over the weekend, Pakistan closed its border to trucks delivering supplies in response to coalition air strikes on Saturday that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers.
