Missile Defense Watch: Russia’s Putin Blames America for New Arms Race

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin anwers questions during a joint news conference with Luxembourg’s Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker after a meeting at the Senningen Castle in Luxembourg in this May 24, 2007 file photo. Putin said on Thursday Russia’s test firing of an intercontinental ballistic missile on Tuesday was in response to U.S. steps that have upset the strategic balance.

Reuters: Putin says missile test response to U.S. moves

Russia’s test firing of an intercontinental ballistic missile on Tuesday was in response to U.S. steps that have sparked an arms race and undermined world security, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday.

An RS-20 booster blasts off from the launching pad in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, in April 2007. Russia has said it has successfully tested a new-generation intercontinental ballistic missile, firing it 6,000 kilometres across the country, news agencies reported. The new RS-24 was designed to replace the RS-18 and RS-20 rockets.
The Quotes:

“Our American partners have left the ABM (Anti-Ballistic Missile) Treaty. We have warned them then that we will come out with a response to maintain the strategic balance in the world,” Putin told a news conference.

“We conducted a test of a new strategic ballistic missile with multiple warheads, and of a new cruise missile, and will continue to improve our resources.”

“We are not the initiators of this new round of the arms race,” said Putin. “(Our partners) are stuffing eastern Europe with new weapons. A new base in Bulgaria, another in Romania, a site in Poland, radar in the Czech Republic . . . what are we supposed to do? We cannot just observe all this.”

Crocodile tears from a former, known KGB agent, now the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin. The Russians were going to upgrade their aging and outdated ICBM missile force anyway. So, who is Putin trying to fool?

It sounds to me that he is taking a page out of Ahmadinejad’s media playbook.

The ICBM test proves NOTHING about United States Missile Defense. The system has been under development for over twenty years and is being deployed currently as testing continues. The system will be able to adapt to any technology the Russians devise.

However, Missile Defense does make Russia nervous. Remember the REYKJAVIK, ICELAND summit between Reagan and Gorbachev?

The Soviets wanted America to bargain away SDI, Missile Defense.

So, what does this posturing by Putin mean?

The timing is interesting, considering the G-8 meets next week in Germany.

Also, Russia has not been allied with the United States in halting Iran’s uranium enrichment program and in fact has supported their nuclear program as well as their air defense capability.

Putin announced a few weeks ago that he would step down next year and perhaps this posturing is his legacy or payback to his military and KGB supporters in the government.

But, whatever the motives and machinations of the former Soviet KGB agent, the United States foreign policy and missile defense continues to be governed by the Reagan Policy of

Peace through Strength

Putin and President Bush will meet after the G-8 meeting in Maine.

“I think both presidents need this summit because before their terms expire they would like to register some positive moments in the bilateral relations to lay the foundation for future contacts,” said Andrei Kortunov, president of the New Eurasia Foundation, a Moscow-based think tank.

“Both leaders are already probably thinking about how they will go down in history, including the way they built relations between the two countries.”

Look for a serious of negotiations to result.

However, the Russia election cycle will begin this Fall and the American one has already begun.

The United States will proceed with their missile defense deployment.