U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Friday invited Russia to join Washington’s plan to deploy a missile defense shield in Eastern Europe.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (R) and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov attend a press conference after their meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, March 6, 2009. The United States and Russia intend to reach a new arms control agreement by the end of this year to replace the current Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START II), Hillary Clinton said here on Friday. (Xinhua/Yang Jingde)

“Missile defense is an element of our (U.S. and EU) joint defense posture,” she said after a meeting with the European Union(EU) troika — the presidency, the decision-making council and the European Commission.

“It obviously has to be proved to work and to be cost-effective for it to be deployed in the Czech Republic and Poland. But it is intended to be part of a deterrent and a defense response vis-a-vis Iran and other actors that might attain and determine to use missiles against Europe,” she said.

Clinton indicated that the Obama administration might not drop the Bush-era plan.

“We need to be prepared to provide mutual defense in effective manners, and we are going to continue to explore various ways of doing that. If missile defense is proven to work and it’s cost-effective, it can be a part of that overall defense,” Clinton said.

The U.S. plan has met strong opposition from Moscow, which insists that the missile shield, if deployed, will undermine Russia’s national security. Clinton said she would tell Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov that the planned missile shield is aimed at missile threats from Iran and terrorist networks, not Russia, during her talks with him in Geneva on Friday night.

Clinton also praised the Czech Republic and Poland for having “visionary leadership” in recognizing that there are new missile threats facing Europe that need U.S. help.

“Were it not for Poland and the Czech Republic being willing to step up and be part of this new defense posture, we would not be able to engage with Russia on this,” she said.

VietNamNet/Xinhuanet