 Russia not moving missiles near NATO allies: Putin Washington (AFP) Dec 1, 2010 - Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Wednesday that Russia was not moving tactical nuclear weapons near NATO allies, and pointed the finger back at the West for escalating tensions on the issue. Asked in an interview on CNN's "Larry King Live" whether Moscow was moving the missiles, Putin said: "It's not us who are moving forward our missiles to your territory." The Wall Street Journal said on Tuesday, citing US officials who described the movements, that Russia as recently as several months ago was moving tactical nuclear warheads to within miles of its borders with NATO countries. Western powers, Putin said, are "planning to mount missiles at the vicinity of our borders, of our territory" in a bid to secure against the threat of Iran's alleged nuclear drive. "Such a threat, as of now, does not exist," Putin pointed out. The potential for missiles being hosted near Russian borders "certainly... worries us. And we are obliged to take some actions in response" if that occurs, the prime minister added. On Tuesday Russian President Dmitry Medvedev warned that failure by Russia and the West to agree on a new missile shield for Europe could spark "a new round of the arms race" that would see Moscow deploy new weapons systems. Putin in the interviewed downplayed Medvedev's rhetoric, saying "no" to a question of another arms race, but adding in the event of additional threats to Russian security in the future, Moscow "will have to ensure her own security through different means... against the new threats created along our border." |
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Wednesday in a CNN interview that if Russia's proposals on a planned NATO European missile shield system "are met with negative answers only" while additional threats appear, "Russia will have to ensure her own security".
Russia's expanded "striking forces" would include "new missile, nuclear technology," Putin said.
"We did not take it as a provocation," Lieutenant General Walter E. Gaskin told the Baltic News Service (BNS) responding to Putin's comments in Vilnius Thursday.
"What I think: a lot of that is political grandstanding," said Gaskin, who holds the title of Deputy Chairman, NATO Military Committee.
"We have not seen anything in a practical sense that the Russians have done to indicate that they want to re-engage in an arms race or not follow through the steps that they agreed to," Gaskin said.
Putin's Wednesday remarks came shortly after Russian President Dmitry Medvedev warned in his annual address of a possible new round of the arms race if the sides do not agree on the European missile defence shield.
NATO's Gaskin insisted the alliance of 28 states covering Europe, North America and Turkey wants a single, integrated missile defence system covering all its members.
"And as we see it, (we want) the missile defence that covers all the NATO nations in Europe and not a portion of them. And we believe this can be an integrated system, but we don't believe it as two separate systems, one system overlapping the other," Gaskin told AFP.
Russia and NATO agreed to deepen missile defence cooperation at last month's summit in Lisbon.
The Wall Street Journal reported that NATO leaders late last month rejected a proposal from Medvedev to unite Russia's missile defences with a shield being built by the West.
In Lisbon, Medvedev had warned the positive response of Russia to a missile defence shield in Europe depended on the quality of cooperation between Moscow and the Alliance.
A few hours before Putin's Wednesday interview with CNN, the Russian defence ministry said its new RS-24 ballistic missile would allow Russia to bypass missile defence systems.
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