FRANKFURT (AFP) — Soviet era foreign minister Eduard Shevardnadze on Wednesday warned world leaders not to let the row over US plans to place a missile shield in Europe escalate into another Cold War.
"We must not repeat the mistakes of the past, we must not allow another Cold War to happen," Shevardnadze said as he presented the German version of his political memoirs, "Thoughts on the Past and the Future", at the Frankfurt Book Fair.
"It is my moral duty to make this warning. We must not allow the upset about missiles and anti-missile systems to escalate.
"I hope that what we heard are just angry words and not a real call to arms. If not, we will see another war with tragic consequences," he added in a veiled reference to Russian President Vladimir Putin's recent outbursts on the subject.
Russia sees the Pentagon's plans to place 10 US interceptor missiles in Poland and a targeting radar in the Czech Republic by 2010 as a military encroachment on its former sphere of influence that could be turned against it.
Putin has threatened to take counter steps. He has since offered Washington access to a Russian early warning radar at Gabala in Azerbaijan and another in southern Russia as an alternative but Pentagon officials say these cannot replace the Czech radar.
The issue will come under discussion at a meeting between US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates and their Russian counterparts on Friday.
Shevardnadze served as foreign minister under president Mikhail Gorbachev from 1985 to 1990 and helped to oversee the dismantling of the Soviet Union.
He then became president of Georgia until 2003, when he was toppled amid unrest and allegations of corruption that tarnished his political legacy. There were two assassination attempts on him during his presidency.
In his book, which has not yet been published in English, he claims that Gorbachev sought to sideline him because of his popularity.
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