Russia Wants US Guarantees on Missile Shield

     Russia says it wants legal guarantees from the United States that a proposed missile defense¹ shield for Europe will not threaten Russian security.

    Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Monday that Moscow has been disappointed by Washington's reluctance² to provide such assurances, saying it cannot agree to missile defense cooperation(合作,协作) with the U.S. and NATO without it.

    Russia demanded defense safeguards from Washington earlier this month, after the U.S. reached an agreement to deploy³ anti-missile interceptors in Romania as part of the new defense shield. Moscow says the prospective⁴ missile defense system may pose a risk to Russian strategic nuclear forces in the future.

    The U.S. says the system is aimed at countering possible missile attacks from countries such as Iran or North Korea, and is not aimed against Russia.

    Russian President Dmitry Medvedev sent a letter to NATO heads of state in recent days, saying that a European missile defense system could only be viable⁵ if Russia takes part.

    Medvedev has warned that failure by Russia and Western nations to reach an agreement on the issue could trigger a new arms race.(本文由在线英语听力室整理编辑)

1 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

2 reluctance   

n.厌恶，讨厌，勉强，不情愿

参考例句：

• The police released Andrew with reluctance.警方勉强把安德鲁放走了。
• He showed the greatest reluctance to make a reply.他表示很不愿意答复。

3 deploy   

v.（军）散开成战斗队形，布置，展开

参考例句：

• The infantry began to deploy at dawn.步兵黎明时开始进入战斗位置。
• The president said he had no intention of deploying ground troops.总统称并不打算部署地面部队。

4 prospective   

adj.预期的，未来的，前瞻性的

参考例句：

• The story should act as a warning to other prospective buyers.这篇报道应该对其他潜在的购买者起到警示作用。
• They have all these great activities for prospective freshmen.这会举办各种各样的活动来招待未来的新人。

5 viable   

adj.可行的，切实可行的，能活下去的

参考例句：

• The scheme is economically viable.这个计划从经济效益来看是可行的。
• The economy of the country is not viable.这个国家经济是难以维持的。