Mosnews,
NATO voiced “grave concern” over Russian President Vladimir Putin’s threat to pull out of a Cold War-era arms control treaty, the Bloomberg news agency reports.
Putin stopped abiding by a 1990 conventional arms accord and said Russia might abandon it altogether, accusing the U.S. of upsetting Europe’s strategic balance by widening its military presence in areas that were once under Soviet influence.
“That message was met by concern, grave concern, disappointment and regret,” North Atlantic Treaty Organization Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer told a press conference in Oslo after a meeting of alliance foreign ministers.
Russia is striking back against U.S. plans for missile- defense bases in Poland and the Czech Republic, saying that President George W. Bush is triggering a new arms race that would destabilize Europe.
The U.S. defended the missile-defense plans again today, with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice saying the system is designed to guard against attacks from countries like Iran and would have too little firepower to menace Russia.
Poland would be the site for 10 missile interceptors, and an early-warning radar system would be located in the Czech Republic. The U.S. is negotiating with both countries over basing rights for the system, due to be fully operational by 2013.
“The Russians have thousands of weapons,” Rice told a press conference in Oslo. “The idea that you can somehow stop Russian strategic nuclear deterrent with a few interceptors just doesn’t make sense.’’
Putin has been seeking to boost Russia’s diplomatic clout, setting out his foreign policy aims in a February speech in Munich where he denounced the U.S. for “an almost unrestrained hyper-use of force in international relations.’’
Russia will stop abiding by the 1990 arms-control agreement, known as the Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty, and may withdraw from it altogether, Putin said today in his annual state of the nation address in Moscow.
“It is finally time for our partners to contribute to reducing arms in actions and not words,” Putin said. Putin blamed NATO for not ratifying a 1999 update to the treaty.
NATO says it won’t ratify as long as Russia maintains a military presence in Georgia and Moldova. The treaty sets limits on tanks, artillery pieces, combat vehicles, combat aircraft and helicopters.
“These are treaty obligations, and everyone is expected to live up to treaty obligations,” Rice said.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov carried Putin’s message to the NATO meeting in Oslo, accusing the Western alliance of “continuing the search for an enemy’’ in the post- Cold War era.
“We cannot be unconcerned by the fact that NATO military infrastructure is creeping up to our borders,” Lavrov said. The U.S. would “radically change the security situation in Europe.”
Russia has balked at a U.S. offer for wide-ranging cooperation on missile defense, which would include the conduct of joint research, the sharing of radar imagery and the staging of joint exercises.
