Russia rejects US missile offer

[dr.umer]

Russia rejects US missile offer​

12 November 2008

Russia has rejected US proposals aimed at easing Moscow's concerns over a planned missile shield in central Europe, a Kremlin source has said.

The source said the proposals by the Bush administration were "insufficient" and would put President-elect Barack Obama "in a dead-end situation".

The US insists the shield is a defence against missiles from "rogue" nations, but Russia sees it as a direct threat.

Moscow has said it will deploy missiles in the Baltic to neutralise the shield.

Last week, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said he had been forced to respond to the US plans by putting short-range Iskander missiles in the Kaliningrad enclave, between Poland and Lithuania.

Further talks

"Russia is ready to co-operate with the US on the issues of European security, but considers the [US missile shield] proposals that were sent are insufficient," the unnamed Kremlin source was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies.

The source said "the current [Bush] administration wants at any price to show" that there was no alternative to deploying the US missile shield in Poland and the Czech Republic.

The proposals were aimed at "putting the new US president in a dead-end situation, so that he should take responsibility for what was concocted without him," the source added.

The proposals have not been made public, but previous US initiatives included, among other things, offers to allow Russia to send observers to monitor the missile defence sites, according to the Associated Press news agency.

Moscow and Washington are due to hold further talks on the issue next month.

Previous meetings have failed to make progress, and the next round could be the last chance for the two sides to overcome their differences before the Bush administration leaves office in January, the BBC's James Rodgers in Moscow says.

 

[genmirajborgza786]

US criticises Russia shield move

Russian threats to base missiles in the Baltic have been criticised as "provocative" by the US defence secretary Robert Gates.

Mr Gates told reporters after a Nato meeting in Estonia: "Such provocative remarks are unnecessary and misguided."

Moscow sees a planned US missile shield in central Europe as a threat, and says it will place missiles in its Baltic enclave, Kaliningrad, to neutralise it.

The US insists the shield is a defence against missiles from "rogue" nations.

The Kremlin has asked the US why it cannot instead use a Russian-operated early warning radar in Azerbaijan.

Mr Gates previously said that while the radar might be used, it was not capable of guiding interceptor missiles.

Russian 'rhetoric'

Within hours of the conclusion of the US presidential election last week, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev announced his plans to place short-range Iskander missiles in Kaliningrad


Mr Medvedev said the move would "neutralise" the US defence shield, which will see missile interceptors in Poland and a linked radar in the Czech Republic.
The proposed defence system has Nato-wide backing, but Moscow sees it as a direct threat to its security.

The US defence secretary said the greatest threat to Russian security was Iran - which the US says is working on long-range missile technology - and that the US missile shield would counter this.

He said that Iskander missiles in Kaliningrad - which lies between Poland and Lithuania - could not protect Russia.

Mr Gates said: "As we try to make clear, Russia has nothing to fear from a defensive missile shield or for that matter from the presence of democratic nations on its periphery.

"Rather than engaging in the kind of rhetoric associated with a bygone era, the United States would prefer that Russia works with us to combat mutual security threats," he said.

Russia has said it will take up negotiations with the incoming administration of Barack Obama, who will replace George W Bush as US president in January.

Story from BBC NEWS:
BBC NEWS | Europe | US criticises Russia shield move

Published: 2008/11/13 14:22:03 GMT

© BBC MMVIII

 

[genmirajborgza786]

Russia to move missiles to Baltic

Russia is to deploy new missiles in a Baltic enclave near Nato member Poland, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev says.

Short-range Iskander missiles in the Kaliningrad region would "neutralise" the planned US anti-missile shield in Poland and the Czech Republic, he said.

The US says its shield is a defence against missiles from "rogue" nations, but Moscow sees it as a direct threat.

Mr Medvedev also said he wanted to extend Russia's presidential term to six years from the current four.

He did not explain if he wanted to extend his own term, or change the rules for his successor.

There has long been speculation that Mr Medvedev is a stop-gap so that Prime Minister Putin - who served the maximum two consecutive terms - can return to the top job, correspondents say.

'Conceited' US policy

In his first state-of-the nation address, Mr Medvedev said Moscow would deploy the Iskander missile system in the Kaliningrad region - between Nato members Lithuania and Poland - to "neutralise - if necessary - the [US] anti-missile system".


"Naturally, we also consider using for the same purpose the resources of Russia's navy," he said.

Mr Medvedev also said Russia would jam the US anti-missile system electronically.

Mr Medvedev's announcement is extremely provocative, but the Kremlin's clear message is that America is to blame, the BBC's Rupert Wingfield-Hayes in Moscow says.

Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus later said that Russia's decision to deploy missiles was "beyond comprehension".

In his speech to lawmakers, the Russian leader also said the August war in Georgia had resulted from a "conceited" US foreign policy.

He said "the conflict in the Caucasus was used as a pretext for sending Nato warships to the Black Sea and also for the foisting on Europe of America's anti-missile systems".

Mr Medvedev, who succeeded Vladimir Putin in May, vowed that Russia "won't retreat in the Caucasus".

Mr Medvedev also blamed Washington for the global financial crisis, but said Russia would "overcome" the challenge.

Story from BBC NEWS:
BBC NEWS | Europe | Russia to move missiles to Baltic

Published: 2008/11/05 15:03:40 GMT

© BBC MMVIII

 

[genmirajborgza786]

Talks to give clues on US-Russia ties
By Paul Reynolds
World affairs correspondent, BBC News website

Talks on nuclear arms getting under way in Geneva should indicate how relations will develop between the US and Russia under President Barack Obama.

Over the next few months it should become clearer as to whether the two countries will agree on further reductions in their nuclear arsenals - and whether they will solve the problem of the American anti-missile system due to be installed in Poland and the Czech Republic.

It will also become clearer as to what Mr Obama's nuclear vision is - for a trimming of current stocks or a more radical cutback.

Russia has so far rejected American offers to involve it more closely in the anti-missile system. The US says it is aimed at countering threats from Iran or North Korea. Iran's recent test of a ballistic missile adds to the belief in the Bush administration that the system is needed.

The Russians say it is a potential threat to them and have linked progress in the nuclear talks to progress on the missile shield.

Success in the talks will go a long way towards establishing a new climate of confidence.

Failure will mean that the cool relationship currently prevailing might extend into the term of the Barack administration.

The talks are at a preliminary stage. They are being held because one of the key treaties that reduced American and Russian nuclear forces - Start 1, the first Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty - runs out in December next year. The treaty provides that a year in advance the two sides have to meet to discuss whether to roll it over or renegotiate it.

Start 1 limited the deployment of nuclear warheads to 6,000 per side along with 1,600 missiles and bombers.

It was followed by Start 2 which brought warheads down to 3,500.

There has also been a treaty known as Sort, the Strategic Offensive Arms Reduction Treaty, which aims at reducing deployed warheads to 1,700-2,200 by 2012.


Verification

The important point about the expiry of Start 1 is that this treaty contains intrusive verification mechanisms and these verification procedures govern all the other treaties. If Start 1 expires, then so do the verification measures.

Without proper verification, it is unlikely that either side will agree to go for even greater cuts, down to below 1,500 or even lower. The Russians have called for this, though the Bush administration has been unwilling to commit itself.

The Russian President, Dmitry Medvedev, said in October that Russia attached "exceptional importance to concluding a new, legally binding Russian-American agreement on nuclear disarmament".

The Bush view does not matter so much now, of course, with a new president due to take office in January.

President-elect Obama has given some indication as to his view. During the presidential election campaign, he told the Washington-based Arms Control Association that he favoured "real, verifiable reductions in all US and Russian nuclear weapons... [This] process should begin by securing Russia's agreement to extend essential monitoring and verification provisions of Start.


He was indicating therefore that the extension of Start 1 provisions should be used as the springboard for a new look at nuclear arsenals.

Daryl G Kimball of the Arms Control Association called for bold measures. "Two decades after the end of the Cold War, there is no plausible reason for US and Russian leaders to maintain thousands of strategic nuclear weapons with large numbers on high alert. Besides the United States and Russia, no state possesses more than 300 nuclear weapons," he wrote.

However, the missile shield does present an obstacle that will have to be overcome. Mr Obama has not expressed opposition to it but has said that it must work.

Doubts as to whether he will commit himself to it emerged after he had a conversation with the Polish President, Lech Kaczynski. Polish officials said that Mr Obama "did not make any promises".

Paul.Reynolds-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk

Story from BBC NEWS:
BBC NEWS | Europe | Talks to give clues on US-Russia ties

Published: 2008/11/13 13:55:44 GMT

© BBC MMVIII