Russia warns US missile defense system could provoke retaliation

Moscow has warned that a US missile defense system in the Czech Republic and Poland could provoke retaliation from Russia. Speaking at a news conference in Moscow on Saturday Russia’s Chief of Staff Yuri Baluyevsky said the firing of an anti-missile rocket from Poland could be seen by Russia’s automated system as the launch of a ballistic missile, which could provoke an answering strike. Russia’s top general expressed dissatisfaction with the course of negotiations between Moscow and Washington on this matter, saying the two states were locked in a “direct stand-off”.