Russian Officer Cautions Against U.S. Missile Defense Deployments in Eastern Europe

A senior Russian military officer last week reaffirmed his opposition to U.S. plans to field missile defenses in Eastern Europe (see GSN, Dec. 20, 2007).

“If the U.S. deploys missile defense elements in Europe, it will create a serious problem to strategic stability, both in Europe and in the world in general,” said Russian General Staff chief Gen. Yuri Baluyevsky.

The United States has held recent talks with Poland and the Czech Republic to reach agreement to build a missile defense radar and install missile interceptors in those nations (see GSN, Jan. 23).  Bush administration officials have said that the sites are needed to defend against Iranian ballistic missile threats.

“We still believe that the U.S. arguments regarding a missile threat from Iran are based on clearly exaggerated and false information,” Baluyevsky said in an interview published in Friday’s Krasnya Zvezda.  “We should not forget that the information about the presence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq turned out to be false too.  The decision made on the basis of it has led not only to the destabilization of the situation in the region, but is having a negative impact on international stability in general.”

“The Russian armed forces will not quietly sit by and watch our restrained potential diminish,” he added.  “We will have to take necessary measures in response” (Russia & CIS Diplomatic Panorama, Jan. 25).

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