The U.S. announced plans in January to deploy interceptor missiles in Poland and a missile defense radar in the Czech Republic as part of its missile shield aimed at countering possible threats from "rogue states" such as Iran and North Korea.
"The issue of the U.S. missile shield deployment involves many sensitive moments," Heinz Fischer said in an interview with RIA Novosti. "Therefore it is highly important that all countries involved directly or by implication have an all embracing, business like and open discussion on the current situation ensuring at the same time maximum transparency."
The 68-year-old Austrian president said recent consultations in Moscow between the United States and Russia as well as consultations within the Russia-NATO Council played a very important role in helping to resolve disputes over the U.S. plans.
Moscow has repeatedly condemned the U.S. plans, claiming that it could be a "destabilizing factor" and could threaten Russia's national security, and warned that "appropriate measures" would be taken in response.
On Monday, after a meeting with NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, U.S. President George Bush reiterated that the defense shield in Europe was not directed against Russia, but against countries which could affect stability and peace in Europe, and said he would continue to reach out to Russia to explain Washington's motives.
Fischer said his country has and always will abide by principles of neutrality, outlined in the constitution, as evidence of its readiness to resolve all disputes through diplomatic negotiations and not by force.
Speaking about Austria's relations with Russia, the president said that in his opinion, they had been developing successfully, particularly in the area of energy cooperation and trade, which last year exceeded 4.6 billion euros.
Fischer also said that a situation similar to the recent one in Estonia, involving monuments to the Soviet soldiers killed in WWII, would never occur in Austria, and the country will continue to maintain numerous memorials.
Estonia's decision to remove a Soviet war memorial from the center of the country's capital Tallinn shortly before VE Day celebrations was condemned by many countries that had fought as part of the anti-Hitler coalition, including Russia, which viewed the move as the rebirth of Nazism in Estonia.
The removal of the Bronze Soldier statue sparked violent protests from the ex-Soviet republic's ethnic Russian minority. One person was killed and several dozen injured in clashes with police April 27. Moscow issued strong protests, with some parliamentarians calling for cutting diplomatic ties with Tallinn.
Fischer said that in line with an agreement signed on May 15, 1955 Austria is obliged to maintain all military cemeteries and monuments of allied nations on its territory.
He said that Austria "has been dutifully fulfilling these obligations and continues to properly maintain the Red Army monument on Schwarzenbergplatz square in Vienna and burial places of fallen soldiers."
But he said the situation in Estonia was different from the situation in Austria both on legal and historic scales.
