DAR AL HARB - RUSSIA/EU/U.S.A.: IF THE UNITED STATES GETS ITS MISSILE DEFENSE, WE SHALL SUSPEND OUR COMPLIANCE WITH THE C.F.E.***...

*** C.F.E. = Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe


Putin to Suspend Pact With NATO
C. J. CHIVERS and MARK LANDLER

MOSCOW, April 26 — President Vladimir V. Putin said Thursday that Russia would suspend its compliance with a treaty on conventional arms in Europe that was forged at the end of the cold war, opening a fresh and intense dispute in the souring relations between NATO and the Kremlin.

The announcement, made in Mr. Putin’s annual address to Parliament, underscored the Kremlin’s anger at the United States for proposing a new missile defense system in Europe, which the Bush administration insists is meant to counter potential threats from North Korea and Iran.

Mr. Putin suggested that Russia would use its future compliance with the treaty as a bargaining point in that disagreement with the United States.

The new standoff also demonstrated the Kremlin’s lingering frustration over NATO’s expansion toward Russia’s borders and with the treaties negotiated in the 1990s when Russia, still staggering through its post-Soviet woes, was much weaker and less assertive on the world stage than it is today.

Although Mr. Putin did not mention it on Thursday, Russia is angry that in 2001 the Bush administration unilaterally pulled out of the Antiballistic Missile Treaty of 1972.

On Monday, Mr. Putin’s defense minister, Anatoly E. Serdyukov, rejected an offer from the visiting American defense secretary, Robert M. Gates, to share antimissile technology, which had been intended as a way to assuage Moscow’s opposition to Washington’s missile defense plan.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, speaking in Oslo at a gathering of diplomats from NATO countries, reacted coldly to Mr. Putin’s speech. “These are treaty obligations, and everyone is expected to live up to treaty obligations,” she said.

Ms. Rice also dismissed Russian concerns that introducing new military technology to Europe could upset the balance of forces there and set off an escalation that could lead to a new cold war.

She called such claims “purely ludicrous” and said the scale of the proposed missile defense system was obviously far too small to defend against the Russian nuclear arsenal.

Though the step by Mr. Putin was incremental, it was highly symbolic and reminiscent of brinkmanship in the cold war. The agreement in question, the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe, known by the initials C.F.E., was signed in 1990 by the members of NATO and of the Warsaw Pact, including Russia.

...

and

Putin says U.S. missile defense plans unjustified, vows countermeasures

MOSCOW: President Vladimir Putin on Friday emphasized Moscow's opposition to the planned U.S. deployment of missile defense systems in central Europe and said Russia will take measures in response.

Putin repeated his rejection of U.S. insistence that the interceptor missiles and radar systems Washington wants to deploy in Poland and the Czech Republic is aimed at neutralizing a potential treat from Iran, saying no such threat exists or is likely to anytime soon.
Moscow has argued that the U.S. is trying to target Russia's strategic missile arsenal.

Putin made the remarks after meeting with Czech President Vaclav Klaus, who said "I strove to explain to President Putin that from the Czech side this plan is not directed against the Russian Federation."

But Putin said "these systems will control Russian territory up to the Urals — if, of course, we do not take action in response, and we will."

The Ural Mountains divide European Russia from its Asian section. Putin equated the planned missile defense system with the deployment of U.S. missiles in Europe during the Cold War and said it would "cardinally change the security system in Europe."

...

Putin said Russia was ready to invite "specialists from Poland, the Czech Republic or other countries to prove to them with the very simplest documents that neither terrorists ... nor Iran nor North Korea" has missiles that would require such a defense system."

"We see no argument at all for the deployment of missile defenses systems in Europe, there is no basis for it," he said.

"Iran ... does not have such (missile) systems and they are not foreseen," he said. "As for terrorists — this is just laughable; they use different methods."

and

"No hysteria" as Putin compares U.S. shield to Pershing missiles

...

Speaking at a Friday news conference with Czech President Vaclav Klaus in Moscow, Putin highlighted the importance of the missile shield as part of the U.S. strategic nuclear deterrent.

"This means a dramatic change in the security system in Europe ", he said.

...

"This talk about defense against terrorists is simply ridiculous," Putin said. "Terrorists use other methods, and the terrorist threat should be countered by cooperation rather than confrontation," the Russian leader said.

...

"There are no such missiles or systems [possessed by Iran of N. Korea] and they will not appear any time soon," Putin said, adding that Russia will use the right to ensure its national security if the decision to deploy the elements of the U.S. missile shield in Europe goes ahead.

"Of course these systems could cover Russia's territory all the way to the Urals but that would be true only if we did not take appropriate measures, which we will, as any other country would," he said.

"There will be no hysteria in Russia over any deployments," he said, "but we will take appropriate measures."

...

"If we see that these installations pose a threat to Russia's national security, they will be targeted by our forces," Baluyevsky said. "What measures we are going to use - strategic, nuclear or other - is a technical issue."

...

"We will continue developing relations with Europe, with all countries, including the Czech Republic," the Russian leader said.

"But the level of threat and material damages, or even annihilation will increase manifold [with the deployment of a U.S. missile shield]," he reiterated.

...

"Russia has no intention of interfering in Polish or Czech internal debate, but we would like them to hear [Russia's position] explained objectively,.. in an open, transparent, and honest discussion," he said.


Pertinent Links:

1) Putin to Suspend Pact With NATO

2) Putin says U.S. missile defense plans unjustified, vows countermeasures

3) "No hysteria" as Putin compares U.S. shield to Pershing missiles