Russia threatening new cold war over missile defence

[mawilson 2,133]

Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, has been critical of US

foreign policy in recent months. Photograph: Antoine Gyori/Corbis

Russia is preparing its own military response to the US's controversial plans to build

a new missile defence system in eastern Europe, according to Kremlin officials,

in a move likely to increase fears of a cold war-style arms race.

The Kremlin is considering active counter-measures in response to Washington's

decision to base interceptor missiles and radar installations in Poland and the Czech

Republic, a move Russia says will change "the world's strategic stability".

The Kremlin has not publicly spelt out its plans. But defence experts said its response

is likely to include upgrading its nuclear missile arsenal so that it is harder to shoot

down, putting more missiles on mobile launchers, and moving its fleet of nuclear

submarines to the north pole, where they are virtually undetectable.

Russia could also bring the new US silos within the range of its Iskander missiles

launched potentially from the nearby Russian enclave of Kaliningrad, they add.

In an interview with the Guardian, the Kremlin's chief spokesman, Dmitry Peskov,

said Moscow felt betrayed by the Pentagon's move. "We were extremely concerned

and disappointed. We were never informed in advance about these plans. It brings

tremendous change to the strategic balance in Europe, and to the world's strategic

stability."

He added: "We feel ourselves deceived. Potentially we will have to create alternatives

to this but with low cost and higher efficiency." Any response would be within "existing

technologies", he said. As well as military counter-measures, Russia's president,

Vladimir Putin, also wanted "dialogue" and "negotiations", he added.

The Bush administration says the bases are designed to shoot down rogue missiles

fired by Iran or North Korea. Its proposed system would be helpless against Russia's

vast nuclear arsenal, it says.

But this claim has been greeted with widespread incredulity, not just in Russia but also

among some of the US's nervous Nato allies. They include Germany, where the Social

Democrat leader, Kurt Beck, warned last month that the US and Russia were on the

brink of another arms race "on European soil".

Defence experts say there is little doubt that the real target of the shield is Russia.

"The geography of the deployment doesn't give any doubt the main targets are Russian

and Chinese nuclear forces," General Vladimir Belous, Russia's leading expert on

anti-ballistic weaponry, told the Guardian. "The US bases represent a real threat to our

strategic nuclear forces."

The threat of a new arms race comes at a time when relations between Russia and

the US are at their worst for a decade. In February Mr Putin accused the Bush

administration during a speech in Munich of seeking a "world of one master, one

sovereign". On Friday Russia's duma, or lower house or parliament, warned that the

US's plans could ignite a second cold war. "Such decisions, which are useless in terms

of preventing potential or imaginary threats from countries of the middle and far-east,

are already bringing about a new split in Europe and unleashing another arms race,"

the declaration - passed unanimously by Russian MPs - said.

The same day Russia ruled out cooperating with the US over the shield. "Despite

certain signals received in recent days from the US side ... I see no political foundation

for it," said Sergei Ryabkov, a foreign ministry spokesman. Moscow now had little

choice but to take the bases "into account in our strategic planning", he said.

Analysts said there was a common feeling in Russia that the US had reneged on an

agreement after the collapse of the Soviet Union to abandon cold war politics. "Cold

war thinking has prevailed, especially on the western side," Yevgeny Myasnikov, a

senior research scientist at Moscow's Centre for Arms Control, told the Guardian.

"Russia has been deeply disappointed by what has happened after 1991. Nato started

to expand, and the US started to think it had won the cold war. We had hoped for a

partnership. But it didn't happen."

Source

[almaty 19]

Putin is just spouting off..Russia has made progess in their economic thanks to oil and natural gas revenue, but their miltary suxs...they have a hard time with Chechenya.....outside of nukes they are paper tigers

[Nagishkaw 510]

This does not suprise me in the least. I think it's all in preparation for the future Armageddon.

[mawilson 2,133]

Putin is just spouting off..Russia has made progess in their economic thanks to oil and natural gas revenue, but their miltary suxs...they have a hard time with Chechenya.....outside of nukes they are paper tigers

I'm not so sure about that. Russia's progress in Chechnya (or lack thereof) is not a very

good indicator of their military strength. The U.S. has the best military in the world, yet

we're facing the same problems in Iraq.

[almaty 19]

Putin is just spouting off..Russia has made progess in their economic thanks to oil and natural gas revenue, but their miltary suxs...they have a hard time with Chechenya.....outside of nukes they are paper tigers

I'm not so sure about that. Russia's progress in Chechnya (or lack thereof) is not a very

good indicator of their military strength. The U.S. has the best military in the world, yet

we're facing the same problems in Iraq.

Chenenya is a small populated and small area part of the former Soviet Union, and has been linked to russia since the 1700s...the russia armed forces is poorly equip and trained with brutal hazing...and lack of respect by the population in general ..

iraq a more populated country and never been linked to usa prior history