nuclear-news

Russia committed to nuclear disarmament, but USA’s missile shield is the obstacle

Putin says Russian nuclear cuts to hinge on U.S. missile shield By Nastassia Astrasheuskaya http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/08/24/russia-usa-nuclear-idINDEE87N0EX20120824 MOSCOW  Aug 24, 2012  (Reuters) – Moscow is open to the idea of new nuclear arms cuts on a reciprocal basis and if Washington addresses its concerns about a U.S.-led missile defence system in Europe, President Vladimir Putin said on Friday.

Putin said preventing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction
was “a key issue on the world agenda” and said Russian compliance with
the 2010 New START treaty, which cut U.S. and Russian nuclear
arsenals, was proof of Moscow’s commitment to disarmament.

“Russia is open to new joint initiatives in this area,” Putin said, in
a written address sent to a meeting of the International Physicians
for the Prevention of Nuclear War being held in Hiroshima, Japan.

“At the same time, their realisation is clearly possible only on a
fair mutual basis and if all factors affecting international security
and strategic stability are taken into account,” he said.

Those factors included what he called “the unilateral and totally
unlimited deployment of a global U.S. missile defence system” as well
as the possibility of the deployment of weapons in space and a lack of
parity in conventional weapons in Europe.

U.S. plans for a missile defence shield in Europe, which Washington
has already begun to deploy, have been a major irritant to U.S.-Russia
relations despite President Barack Obama’s decision to scale the
original plans back.

Washington says the shield is meant to counter a potential threat from
Iran and will pose no risk to Russia.

But Moscow says the system’s interceptors will be able to destroy
Russian warheads in flight by about 2018, upsetting the post-Cold War
balance of power and weakening Russia’s nuclear arsenal. n a foreign
policy decree issued on May 7, the day his inauguration ceremony for a
six-year presidential term took place, Putin reiterated Moscow’s
demands for firm U.S. guarantees that the shield is not directed
against Russia.

Four days earlier, the chief-of-staff of Russia’s armed forces said
Moscow could carry out pre-emptive strikes on future missile defence
installations in Europe to protect its security.

The European system will include interceptor missile installations in
Poland and Romania and a radar station in Turkey as well as
interceptors and radars on ships based in the Mediterranean Sea.

(Reporting By Nastassia Astrasheuskaya; Editing by Steve Gutterman and
Andrew Osborn)

August 25, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Russia, weapons and war