French president urges US, Russia missile

Speaking after an EU-Russia summit in Nice, Sarkozy said he voiced to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev concerns about the Kremlin's threat to deploy missiles in an enclave near Poland in response to U.S. plans for an anti-missile shield in Europe.

"I indicated to President Medvedev how concerned we were about this declaration and how there should be no deployment in any enclave until we have discussed new geopolitical conditions for pan-European security," Sarkozy said.

"As president of the EU, I proposed that in mid-2009 we meet ... to lay down the foundation for what could be the future of European security," he said, according to a report by Reuters. France holds the rotating EU Presidency till the end of the year. "Between now and then, don't talk about deployment of a missile shield, which does nothing to bring security and complicates things," he said referring to U.S. plans to deploy an anti-missile system in Poland and the Czech Republic.

No unilateral steps
Medvedev said his remarks on deploying missiles in Russia's western outpost of Kaliningrad were a reaction to the U.S. plans, which Moscow sees as a threat despite Washington's assurances that they are aimed at protecting the United States and its European allies from "rogue" states such as Iran.

"We urge all to refrain from unilateral steps which influence security until the new pact is signed," Medvedev told the joint news conference with Sarkozy. "Russia has never made such steps unilaterally."

Sarkozy added that a summit of NATO leaders set for April could also discuss ideas to be addressed at the Russian talks.

The Nice summit came after EU states agreed on Monday to re-launch talks on a broad partnership pact frozen after Russia's August military incursion into Western ally Georgia.

The president of the European Commission, meanwhile, said that the EU will resume partnership talks with Russia that were put on hold over the war with Georgia. "The talks are being resumed to increase stability," Jose Manuel Barroso said, as reported by The Associated Press.

Pullout, financial crisis
Acknowledging reservations among some EU states about restarting talks with Russia, Sarkozy said it was in the mutual interest of Russia and Europe to talk to each other. He also said Russia had to a large extent complied with a French-brokered ceasefire in Georgia, but still needed to withdraw its troops from two disputed enclaves.

After the summit Sarkozy and Medvedev have flew directly to Washington to join the G-20 meeting of top economies on the global financial crisis. Sarkozy said the Russian and EU positions on the international financial system were very close.

"I think I can say that Russia's propositions were of great quality and that they are very close to Europe's propositions," Sarkozy said, according to Agence France-Presse. Medvedev agreed, saying that Moscow and Brussels were heading to Washington with "practically common positions". He also backed Sarkozy's call for a second summit in February once U.S. President-elect Obama takes office.