Russian opens center in Serbia, denies it will spy on US facility in Romania

Sergey Shoigu, Russia’s minister for emergency situations

Πηγή: Washington Post
By AP
Oct 17 2011

BELGRADE, Serbia — Russia has denied news reports that the emergency relief center it is creating in Serbia will be used to spy on neighboring Romania, where U.S. anti-ballistic missile interceptors are likely to be installed.

Those reports began two years ago when Russian President Dmitry Medvedev announced that Serbia and Russia had agreed to create the joint facility at the airport in Nis, Serbia.

But during a ceremony opening it Monday, Sergey Shoigu, Russia’s minister for emergency situations, said such speculation is “a pure fabrication.”

Shoigu says the center will house relief experts and their equipment, and is intended to fight major forest fires, flooding, earthquakes and other natural disasters.