New law poses hurdles to Russian GPS sites inside US

[WASHINGTON] Tucked into the mammoth defence budget bill that President Barack Obama signed into law last week is a measure that virtually bars Russia from building about a half-dozen monitor stations on US soil that critics fear Moscow could use to spy on the US or worse.

Russia first broached the idea of erecting the domed antenna structures here nearly two years ago, saying that they would significantly improve the accuracy and reliability of its version of the GPS, the US satellite network that steers bomb-bearing warplanes to their targets and wayward motorists to their destinations.

Congressional Republicans, however, harboured suspicions that Russia had nefarious motives behind its plan, which the US State Department supported as a means to mend bruised relations between the two nations. The Pentagon and the CIA sided with congressional critics, concerned about handing the Russians an opening to snoop on the United States within its borders.