国际英语新闻：Russian congressmen irked by planned U.S. missile shield in Romania

MOSCOW, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- Moscow is worried about the U.S. plans to deploy missile defense elements in Romania, some senior members of the Russian parliament said Friday.

Viktor Zavarzin, chairman of the Defense Committee of the State Duma, or lower house of the parliament, told reporters on Friday that the plans could affect the European security architecture.

The key question was whether NATO would view security problems merely from the Brussels perspective, or would take into account the "legitimate interests and concerns of all states in the Euro- Atlantic area," said Zavarzin as cited by the RIA Novosti news agency.

Leonid Slutsky, First Deputy Chairman of the Defense Committee, said the same day that the planned missile shield elements in Romania would also affect the ongoing talks between Moscow and Washington on a successor document to the expired Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START-1).

Russia's response was negative to the current situation, stressed Slutsky.

The missile defense issue remained special among the nuclear arsenal cut talks. What the United States has been doing was incompatible with the logic and basic tone of the bilateral dialogue concerning the missile defense issue, he added.

U.S. President Barack Obama announced on Sept. 17, 2009 to abandon Bush-era missile defense shield program while initiating a "phased, adaptive approach" of the plan in Eastern Europe.

Romanian President Traian Basescu announced Thursday that the Romanian Supreme Council for National Defense had decided to participate in the development of the United States' missile defense system and host components on its territory.

Before Budapest, Warsaw and Prague have voiced support for the revamped U.S. strategy.