TASS Nikolic not ruling out Russian military base in Serbia
Fri Jan 25, 2008 7:05 am (PST) <http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=12294530&PageNum=0> http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=12294530&PageNum=0 ITAR-TASS (RUSSIAN FEDERATION) Nikolic not ruling out Russian military base in Serbia 25.01.2008, 10.56 TOKYO, January 25 (Itar-Tass) -- Tomislav Nikolic, the presidential candidate, who won the first round of the presidential elections in Serbia, would not object to the deployment of a Russian military base in their country, if this could consolidate its security. He said so in an interview with the Nikkei newspaper, the leading economic newspaper of Japan, which was published on Friday. "If the United States deploys its missiles in Europe for protecting their country against terrorism, Russia could in the same way create its stronghold in Serbia," he continued. He even does not rule out a possibility of the deployment of Russian nuclear missiles in their country. "There is reason to hold talks on the problem, if this could make a contribution to ensuring Serbia's security," he said. Tomislav Nikolic, the leader of the Serb Radical Party, got 39.9 per cent of votes in the first round. His rival, President Boris Tadic, got 35.4 per cent. The second, the decisive round of voting will take place on February 3. Both presidential candidates are going to hold consultations in Moscow before the second round.
