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Nice, France: French President Nicolas Sarkozy said he won Russian backing on Friday for talks on security in Europe next year, and urged both Moscow and the United States to freeze their missile plans until then.
Speaking after an EU-Russia summit in Nice, Sarkozy said he spoke to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev concerns about the Kremlin's threat to deploy missiles in an enclave near Poland in response to US plans for an anti-missile shield in Europe.
"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.
"As president of the European Union, I proposed that in mid-2009 we meet ... to lay down the foundation for what could be the future of European security," he said. France holds the rotating EU Presidency till the end of the year.
Sarkozy said such a summit, possibly under the auspices of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) security body, would not be conclusive but could lay the foundations for a future European security pact.
"Between now and then, don't talk about deployment of a missile shield, which does nothing to bring security and complicates things," he said referring to US plans to deploy an anti-missile system in Poland and the Czech Republic.
Medvedev said his remarks on deploying missiles in Russia's western outpost of Kaliningrad were a reaction to the US plans, which Moscow sees as a threat despite Washington's assurances that they are aimed at protecting the United States and its European allies from "rogue" states such as Iran.
"We urge all to refrain from unilateral steps which influence security until the new pact is signed," Medvedev told the joint news conference with Sarkozy.
"Russia has never made such steps unilaterally."
Sarkozy added that a summit of NATO leaders set for April could also discuss ideas to be addressed at the Russian talks.
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