US and Russia Lock Horns over Kosovo, Missile Shield

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US counterpart Condi Rice butted heads during a sit-down with G-8 foreign ministers yesterday, over US plans to grant Kosovo independence and build a missile defense shield in the region. The entire group endorsed freeing Kosovo from Serbian control, the Washington Post reports, except Lavrov.

The US plans to install a radar system in the Czech Republic and 10 interceptor missiles in Poland, an action Lavrov denounced as a new arms race. Rice called the notion "ludicrous," adding that Russia's "strategic nuclear deterrent would not be degraded." "I hope that nobody has to actually prove that Condi's right on that," warned Lavrov. (More Russia stories.)