Russia won’t benefit from NATO deal

Russia is not likely to gain much out of its cooperation with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) on a missile system and other security issues, says an expert.

During a NATO meeting in the Portuguese capital of Lisbon on Saturday, Moscow and the military bloc agreed to conduct a joint study on how Russia can join the missile system, which is said to protect Europe and North America from long-range missiles.

Commenting on the decision, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said that Moscow’s strained relations with the bloc have been overcome.

“It doesn’t look like Russia gets much out of this except the possibility that US and NATO military personnel could be swarming all over Russia if this agreement to extend this missile shield over Russia is consummated,” Wayne Madsen, a Washington-based national security analyst, said in an interview with Press TV on Sunday

Until very recently, Moscow had been extremely critical of Washington’s missile shield plan and viewed it as a direct threat to its nuclear deterrence.

Just ahead of the summit, Russia had played down the chances of any major breakthrough.