Russia to enhance missile capabilities if NATO missile shield fails

2011-05-18 21:39:33 GMT+7 (ICT)

MOSCOW (BNO NEWS) -- Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Tuesday said that if the NATO cooperation for a European missile shield system fails, Russia will enhance its strike nuclear capabilities instead, RIA Novosti reported.

The proposed cooperation has been stalled as the United States refused to comply with a Russian request to provide legally binding guarantees that the European missile defense network will not be directed at Russia.

"I hope we will be able to forge a missile defense cooperation model," said Medvedev. "If we don't, we will have to take retaliatory measures, which we do not want to have to do. This will mean forcing the development of our strike nuclear potential."

Medvedev said that this scenario could be similar to the Cold War era and added that Russia may also pull out of the New START disarmament agreement which entered into force this year.

"It is clear that the missile defense shield is directed at blocking the strategic capabilities of certain states," added the Russian president. "Other states mentioned do not have Russia's nuclear potential .So, it is directed against us."

Russia and the United States will discuss the status of the missile shield in Europe during the forthcoming G8 summit in Deauville, France, in late May. Both Medvedev and U.S. President Barack Obama have confirmed their presence.

In November 2010, NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen announced that Russia agreed to explore ways to cooperate on a missile defense system during the Russia-NATO Council summit in Lisbon.

The missile network was proposed by the United States and is expected to include two independent systems that exchange information but Russia wants a joint system with full-scale interoperability.

Russia also opposed to the planned deployment of U.S. missile defense systems near its borders, claiming they would be a security threat. The U.S.-NATO missile shield was designed to defend NATO members against missiles from North Korea and Iran.

-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2011-05-18

Remember the Cuba crises? This is it again only from an other angle so to speak.

Tiger

Remember the Cuba crises? This is it again only from an other angle so to speak.

Tiger

I don't think Russia has the capacity to invest the billions to threaten Europe. More importantly it already has some Europeans by the political testicles because of Russia's position as one of the world's largest energy exporters. If Russia stops the flow of energy or disrupts the pipelines, the Baltic states, Germany and others would be close to collapse. Russia is in a position to dictate terms to the Europeans.