Agence France-Presse,
WASHINGTON: US officials on Tuesday said Russia's plans to renew its military and nuclear arsenal were not cause for alarm and dismissed Moscow's criticism of the NATO alliance.
Russia was “perfectly entitled to a robust self-defense,” Defense Department press secretary Geoff Morrell told a news conference.
“I have not heard any alarm in this building about any proposed Russian build-up of its military,” he said.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Tuesday announced a “large-scale” rearmament for the army and navy and improvements to the country's nuclear missiles, while also accusing NATO of pushing ahead with expansion near Russian borders.
The White House dismissed Moscow's portrayal of NATO and said the transatlantic alliance continues to cooperate with Russia on important issues such as terrorist threats and nuclear proliferation.
“NATO is a collective defense organization. I think to suggest that it poses an offensive military threat is simply wrong,” White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters.
“It looked like the comments of the president of Russia were largely for domestic consumption,” he added.
At the Pentagon, Morrell said Defense Secretary Robert Gates has spoken previously about how Russia's aging population means Moscow will have trouble recruiting enough young soldiers and will likely reduce its large military force, Morrell said.
“And as a result, we've noticed that the Russian government is investing heavily in its strategic (nuclear) arsenal. That's a fact of life.
“I think we are always mindful of how people are arming themselves around the world, and we encourage everybody to be as transparent as possible so there's no misunderstanding about intentions,” he said.
The US and Russian militaries had forged a positive working relationship and the top US military officer, Admiral Mike Mullen, was in regular talks with his Russian counterpart, Morrell said.
“As long as we have a good dialogue and a good understanding of what we are both developing our militaries for, I don't see that it poses a problem or a threat that we should be concerned with,” he said.
Meeting defense chiefs in Moscow, Medvedev said he was determined to implement reforms to streamline Russia's bloated military and stressed Moscow continued to face several security threats needing robust defense capacity.
But even though Medvedev and others have expressed hope for an improvement in US-Russian ties, there was a combative tone to Tuesday's meeting, intended to sum up military developments in the last year and to plan ahead.
The Russian president's comments, accusing NATO of expanding in Russia's region, came despite signs of a warming in US-Russia relations since the inauguration of President Barack Obama in January.
On Monday, the US Defense Department made light of Russia's possible use of air bases in Venezuela or Cuba for its strategic bombers.
“That would be quite a long way for those old planes to fly,” Morrell told AFP.
Russian air force general Anatoly Zhikharev on Saturday said that Russia could seek the short-term use of bases in Cuba and Venezuela.
The bases could be used for stops on long-distance bomber patrols, which Russia resumed in August 2007 after a 15-year hiatus.
