Head of the U.S. Missile Defence Agency General Patrick O'Reilly says that the USA does not plan to change the schedule for the deployment of the ABM elements in Europe because of Russia's stand, adding that the work to set up missile bases in Romania and Poland will start soon.

nd still, Washington, as before, is ready to cooperate with Moscow, O'Reilly says. General Patrick O'Reilly was speaking at the hearings in the Senate where the agency's new budget was discussed.

According to the latest reports, the USA plans to spend 7.7 billion dollars for the missile defence purposes next year. A considerable part of this sum will be spent on the preparation of the launch pads and on the creation of the infrastructure in Central Europe.

The U.S. Missile Defence Agency plans to complete the deployment of all elements of the European Missile Defence System by 2015, and three years later the interceptors, as is planned, will be deployed in Poland too.

According to O'Reilly, a new system, the Aegis Ashore Missile Defence System, - will be deployed in Romania and Poland. The modified sea-based interceptors SM-3 Block IIA will make up its backbone.

General Patrick O'Reilly says that the use of the THAAD Defence Systems and Patriot missiles will make it possible to cover Europe with what could be termed as a "multi-layer" umbrella that consists of three defence layers.

Speaking about Russia's "discontent", as he said, he stressed that it would affect the USA's missile plans in no way. A rather strange statement though."

Russia has the means which could be of great help to us. Meaning, first of all, big radars, which it uses for the protection of its territory. Besides, the geographical situation of Russia - from Europe to Asia - would enable us to reveal threats at an early stage".

As regards the general's latest statement, military experts - for example, Editor-In-Chief of the "Independent Military Review" newspaper Viktor Litovkin is puzzled over the above-mentioned.

"I think that what O'Reilly said is an attempt to put a good face on the matter. As you know, when several years ago the former Russian president Vladimir Putin came up with a proposal to use the Gabala radar station for observing Iran, O'Reilly said that technically the Russian and American radar stations are incompatible.

And now, all of a sudden, he began to see clearly. It seems to me, they simply want to show us before the Chicago Summit 2012 that an agreement could be reached but Russia is very obstinate and does not want to cooperate."

Viktor Litovkin does not have any illusions about the upcoming Chicago Summit. Other experts have a similar opinion. They say that it is very unlikely that the USA's stand will undergo changes before the presidential elections in the country.

And as regards' Washington's assurances that Washington is ready to cooperate, as part of the session of the Russia- NATO Council at foreign minister level that was held in Brussels some time ago, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov confirmed once again that Moscow's demands for the legal guarantees that the European Missile Defence System is not targeted against Russia's strategic potential remain in force.

Source: Voice of Russia