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Wednesday, May 2, 2007

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TBILISI -- Georgia would, if asked, consider hosting elements of the proposed U.S. missile shield, Foreign Minister Gela Bezhuashvili said on Wednesday in a newspaper interview likely to enrage neighbouring Russia.

Moscow describes plans to deploy shield elements - 10 interceptor missiles and a radar station - in Poland and the Czech Republic as a threat to its security and to the strategic balance of forces in Europe.

"If (the U.S.) came and told us that they want to (deploy parts of the missile shield in Georgia), we would certainly be willing to talk about it," Bezhuashvili told the Financial Times.

Washington says it wants to create the shield as protection against missiles fired by "rogue states" such as Iran and North Korea. Russia doubts this, and President Vladimir Putin said last week the system would be used to track Russian military activities.

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Georgia, an ex-Soviet Caucasus state whose pro-Western leadership wants to end its reliance on Moscow and join NATO and the European Union, has had a series of rows with Russia.

The crisis peaked last year with the brief detention in Tbilisi of Russian officers accused of spying and a retaliatory ban by Moscow on trade ties and transport links with Georgia.

Russia, which looks with suspicion on warm ties between Georgia and the West, has urged Tbilisi not to host the U.S. missile shield.

Bezhuashvili said Washington had not approached Georgia about the shield. "There is no formal application, not even formal talks," he said. "But if they ask for help, we will talk with them."

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has dismissed Moscow's concerns as "ludicrous", but the planned deployment of elements of the shield in eastern Europe has caused unease among some of the Americans' NATO allies.

"They (Russians) are trying to provoke a debate within the alliance. Russia is playing on weaknesses," Bezhuashvili said.

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