From Reuters:  Turkey is set to host a NATO early-warning radar system as part of improved defenses for the Western military alliance, the foreign ministry said on Friday. . . .

The foreign ministry spokesman said the alliance decided to develop a new defense system against a ballistic missile threat and that work on the project was reaching its final stages.

"It is anticipated that the early warning radar system allocated by the United States for NATO will be deployed in our country," a ministry spokesman said in a statement.

"Turkey’s hosting of this element will constitute our country’s contribution to the defense system being developed in the framework of NATO’s new strategic concept. It will strengthen NATO’s defense capacity and our national defense system." No further details were immediately available. . . .

"According to Russian military experts, the deployment of a radar in Turkey is not a direct threat to Russia’s strategic nuclear forces, the Interfax news agency quoted Russia’s NATO envoy, Dmitry Rogozin, as saying.

However, he said "the United States continues to pursue its plan for deployment of the military infrastructure of missile defense … independently of consultations it is holding in the NATO format and, more broadly, with Russian participation."  (photo: NATO)

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