Putin threatens return to Cold War

Putin threatens return to Cold War
By Demetri Sevastopulo in Washington and Neil Buckley in Moscow and Daniel Dombey in London
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007
Published: June 3 2007 23:11 | Last updated: June 4 2007 10:38


Russian president Vladimir Putin has raised tensions over controversial US plans to install a missile defence shield in Poland and the Czech Republic by threatening to target Russian missiles at Europe.

Alan Beattie previews G8 as Putin raises the stakes
Speaking ahead of this week’s G8 meeting, Mr Putin said Russia would have to respond to the threat of US missiles in Europe. The US says the missile shield – which would involve installing 10 missile interceptors in Poland and a radar in the Czech Republic – is aimed at protecting the US and Europe against Iranian missiles.

“It’s obvious that if part of the strategic nuclear potential of the US is located in Europe and, in the opinion of our military specialists, will pose a threat to us, then we will have to take corresponding steps in response...Of course, we will have to have new targets in Europe,” Mr Putin told reporters from G8 countries in an interview published on the Kremlin website.

While senior Russian generals have previously made the same threat, this was the first time that Mr Putin endorsed such a move publicly. His remarks also represented a strengthening of the rhetoric just before President George W. Bush arrives in Europe for an eight-day visit that includes the G8 summit in Germany. Mr Bush last week attempted to ease tensions by saying “the Cold War is over”. But Mr Putin’s remarks seemed to herald a return to the Cold War era when the US and Russia both had missiles aimed at each other.

Mr Putin used his most outspoken language yet to criticise the proposed missile defence system, saying it was a unilateral move that had not been approved by Europe.

“How is this explained to us? By the fact that we must defend against missiles from Iran. But there are no such missiles...So we’re told that the anti-missile system is aimed at defending against something that doesn’t exist. Doesn’t that seem, at the very least, a bit funny? It would be funny if it wasn’t so sad,” Mr Putin said.

Relations between Washington and Moscow have been on a downward spiral since Mr Putin lambasted US foreign policy in a February speech in Munich to defence policy elites, including Robert Gates, the US defence secretary. While the US has attempted to play down the differences, Mr Putin’s comments will likely ensure that Russia remains close to the top of the G-8 agenda.

Mr Putin added, however, that it was not too late to end what he called a new arms race in Europe, which he said had been initiated by the US.

“We want to be heard. We want our position to be understood. We don’t exclude [the possibility] that our American partners could review their decision,” the Russian president said. “But if this doesn’t happen, then we are no longer responsible for our steps in response, because we are not the initiators of this brewing new arms race in Europe.”

Russia has not been swayed by a series of meetings with senior US officials, including Robert Gates, the defence secretary, over the missile defence system. Mr Gates in April visited Moscow in an effort to reassure Mr Putin that the system was not directed at Russia, and also to reduce fears in Europe about a growing rift with Russia over the shield.

Mr Putin reiterated complaints first aired in his February speech that the US had abandoned the multilateral system.

“One of the main problems is that certain members of the international community think that their opinion is the definitive truth,” he said. “This, of course, doesn’t help to create an atmosphere of trust.”

At face to face meetings in April of foreign and defence ministers, Russia and Nato countries flatly disagreed over whether there was any missile threat at all from Iran. Russian officials from Mr Putin down argue that Iran does not have the missile range to target Europe and have told Nato headquarters that they do not envisage any significant threat for ”decades”.

By contrast, US officials maintain that Iran could have intercontinental ballistic missiles by 2015 and worry that the traditional approach of deterrence, shaped in the Cold War, would have little impact on the Islamic Republic.

Washington has also consistently argued that the 10 missile interceptors planned for Poland would only be able to deal with countries with small stocks of missiles, and would have no bearing on the effectiveness of Russia’s arsenal of thousands of missiles. There are also long-running doubts about the effectiveness of the technology of the US programme, which has had a checkered history in tests. The most recent scheduled test, at the end of last month was aborted after a dummy missile went astray.

Iran insists that its nuclear programme is purely peaceful. On Monday, Ali Larijani, Iran’s top security official, labelled the US missile defence plans ”a joke”. ”The range of Iran’s missiles doesn’t reach Europe at all,” he told Iran’s state run IRNA news agency.

European diplomats also have more faith than the US that the nuclear arsenals of the US, France, Britain and, particularly, Israel, would deter Iran, since they see Tehran as more of a rational actor.

Social Democrats in Germany’s ruling grand coalition have attacked the missile defence programme, which they argue is reintroducing Cold War tensions to the continent. Public opinion in Poland and the Czech Republic is strongly opposed to the US plans, since neither country sees itself as threatened by Iran and both believe that they are more likely to be targeted by Russia if, as Washington has requested, they host missile defence interceptors and radars.

However, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, Nato secretary general, has hailed what he believes is a growing consensus among Nato’s 26 members over missile defence, and countries such as France have moved closer to endorsing the concept.

Nato is also likely to discuss whether to supplement the US plans with missile defences for parts of Turkey, Greece and Romania, which fall outside the US plans to protect both European population centres and US troops stationed on the continent from missile attacks.