MARK LANDLER | Oslo | April 26

New York Times - Editor - And they wonder why Russia seems so uncooperative lately. I suppose Russia needs to start selling interceptors to Mexico and the various central American countries. I'm sure the US won't mind.

Brusquely dismissing protests by Russian officials, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said here on Thursday that a missile-defense system the United States plans to install in Poland and the Czech Republic would pose no danger to the security of Russia.

“The idea that somehow 10 interceptors and a few radars in Eastern Europe are going to threaten the Soviet strategic deterrent is purely ludicrous, and everybody knows it,” Ms. Rice said before a meeting of NATO foreign ministers expected to focus on the missile-defense dispute.

“The Russians have thousands of warheads,” Ms. Rice said. “The idea that you can somehow stop the Soviet strategic nuclear deterrent with a few interceptors just doesn’t make sense.”

Still, Ms. Rice said the United States would continue discussing the system with Russian officials, in an effort to “demystify” it. She planned to meet the foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, later on Thursday.

Ms. Rice’s comments came as President Vladimir Putin declared in Moscow that Russia would no longer honor its obligations under the Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty. The decision, he said, was a response to Western threats, including the planned missile-defense system.

(emphasis added)