From Reuters: The United States does not envisage placing any elements of a revised missile defence system within non-NATO members and is not in consultations with any such states, a senior U.S. defence official said on Tuesday.

The comments by U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defence Alexander Vershbow followed concern expressed in Russia last week at reports Washington was in talks with Ukraine over a revised defence shield.

“We are not consulting with any non-NATO countries and we do not envisage the placement of elements of our new architecture on the territory of non-NATO member states,” Vershbow told reporters in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi. (photo: NATO)