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Putin doubts missile shield agreement
20 June 2012The disagreement between the US and Russia over European missile defence "will not be solved" unless Russia is involved in the system, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said.
The US is currently developing a missile shield to be based across southern and eastern Europe which will join together radar and interceptor missile installations at a variety of land bases as well as on American Aegis destroyers in the Mediterranean.
In May, Russia threatened to attack the European Phased Adaptive Approach (EPAA) missile shield during its third phase in 2018, when US SM-3 interceptor missiles will be deployed to sites in Poland.
Russia sees the installation as a direct threat to the effectiveness of its own nuclear deterrent, but the US has insisted the shield is designed to stop rogue missile launches from the Middle East and Iran.
The US has rebuffed Russia's requests to be involved in the system before, and, speaking at the G20 summit in Los Cabos, Mexico, Putin said he saw no movement in the US position.
"I think the problem of the missile defence shield will not be solved regardless of whether Obama is re-elected or not," news agency Interfax quoted Putin as saying.
"I think that something can radically change only in the case if the US agrees with our proposal which says that Russia, Europe and US were equal participants of this process," he added.
HAVE YOUR SAY
21 June 2012
He's right. Would love to see a Russian ABM system in Cuba.How would the US like that?
Like the Cuban Missile Crisis, it is always ok for the US to have its assets ringing Russia.
Fylingdales, for example, yet the Soviet Krasnoyarsk radar breached the ABM agreement. Yet Fylingdales is hardly within US territory is it? Which was a condition of the agreement.Nor is Thule in Greenland.
Likewise Soviet missiles in Cuba were not ok, yet US missiles in Turkey were?
Or Libyan aircraft within their own airspace around their country flying towards the US fleet in international waters get shot down,
yet it is quite ok for numerous U2's to be loitering over Russia.
Along with US facilities throughout Europe, the former Soviet states to the south of Russia, Afghanistan, Japan.
Russia has alays been surrounded. They lost 20 million plus people when Germany invaded in 41, it is no wonder they have a paranoid siege mentality.
Do not get me wrong, I'm no supporter of Putin and I believe in having strong ties with the US, I just see the hypocricies of the west all to often which people choose to ignore.
If this shield is really against rogue states in the Middle East then why not include Russia in it?
Daniele Mandelli - Guildford