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‘We will join missile defense or render it useless’ - Medvedev
Published: 21 February, 2012, 18:47
RIA Novosti / Aleksandr Kryazhev
TAGS: Military, NATO, Medvedev, Russia, Politics
Russia will not counter the proposed US-European missile defense shield if offered a role in its implementation, President Dmitry Medvedev said at the meeting with the missile forces’ commanders.
“This does not mean a confrontation, this means only one thing – we cannot remain indifferent to their plans because they touch upon our strategic interests, this is why I had to make this statement,” Medvedev told the military referring to his address to the Federal Assembly in which he for the first time announced the plans to counter the proposed missile defense shield.
The president added that the plans can be reversed only on condition that Russia is offered some scheme of joint participation in an anti-missile system.
Medvedev also rejected the suggestions that the statement was excessively harsh.
“This was not a harsh statement because it lists all real circumstances that forced me, as the Supreme Commander, to make the corresponding decisions, and those reply measures that will be put into life. They are being fulfilled right now, you know about them and they will be carried out to the end, just like the figure on rearming the strategic missile forces, they will be rearmed 100 per cent by 2020, have no doubt. Everything is repaid in full so that everything is prepared and delivered to the troops,” Medvedev announced to the commanders.
“When we signed an agreement on limitations to the strategic offensive forces, we were basing it on the notion that we were in a certain parity, give or take. We understand that the missile defense is in essence an extension of the strategic missile force, though by different means and in essence it is an attempt to destroy this balance,” Medvedev stated.
The Russian president reiterated the thesis that Russia is going to take steps that will be difficult and costly, but still affordable, to balance the missile defense initiative.
“But if they abandon their plans, our colleagues will have demonstrated flexibility on this issue in some cases. We will also demonstrate flexibility in return,” Medvedev assured.
But if the US and European countries persist in their plans to develop and build the missile defense system, Russia will act in response, Medvedev stressed. “I want to underline it once again, this is not some sort of Russian militarism or Cold War relic, this is simply a sober analysis and we cannot act any other way,” the president noted.
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8 comments
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Dear Russia,
The Cold War is over, and you're not the Soviet Union anymore. Move on. This shield is honestly none of your business. And you also have no right to express concern because your country has basically kissed up to Iran. Russia has sold missiles to them, so they don't need to tell Europe not to build a missile defense shield that isn't on their border and then threaten nuclear war if they do. Threatening nuclear war on countries that don't even have nuclear weapons or even have plans to get them? I'm not amused by that. Poland shares a border with the Kaliningrad region, but not Mainland Russia. And by the way, the plan is to put 10 interceptor missiles. 10! Is that enough to launch an attack on a huge country with a big army? No it's not! And the word is "interceptor", not "ballistic".
MattFTW wrote in#3
Why would the USA and NATO want to attack Russia? If we wanted to, we would have done it more than 20 years ago and destroyed that whole country. It's actually funny seeing you all afraid of a defense shield which can be used to your benefit, too.
Why do you think that Russia could have been 'destroyed' 20 years ago in 1991?
There has never been any period of time since 1959 when Russia hasn't had a continuously operating ICBM force. The Strategic Missile Troops operate the worlds largest stockpile of nuclear weapons. Any nuclear strike against Russia, even in the mess of 1991, would have resulted in the destruction of the initiating attacker!
Of course this response from Mr. Medvedev and Russia, is the natural and only sensible thing to do! The people that have followed USNato's pacing out radar-systems and patriot airdefence and other missile systems, on top of the absolutely offensive Aegis ships in Europe, without any regards to the Russian's accept or consultations, and on top of that, quite many of us here in the west, remembers very clear how USNato top chiefs, including Mr. Fogh Rasmussen, the secretary general of nato, said that Russia is our partner and not an enemy, and we will cooperate in the AMD project! What a dirty lie! And after that the lies have continued from that side! So if the west do not do anything really soon, and really trustworthy, it is the only proper response what Mr. Medvedev have stated as a fact, and so have Mr. Putin reasonly done the same! It's clear who started and continues to push on Russia! So the ball is on the Western USNato's half in this serious game! So wake up Western leaders, and stop lieing and leading on towards more wars! Stand by your words and show some respect for at least your own fancy talk, but also to your obligations as human beings! Nobody in their sound mind, belives this have anything with fear of Iran or N. Korea! How stupid do you think we are! You can fool some of the people, some of time, but you can't fool all of the people all of the time! Take the Russian's onboard, or you Western leaders will loose all cretitability, if they ever had it! And western citizens will get rid of you instead of you who think it is within your mandate to install your paid traitor leaders in the oil states that do not comply to your double standards!!! And at last, thank you to the Russian leaders to have the patience to still negosiate with you! So step up to the opportunity, or step down and out!