Putin Warns of Arms Race

As he prepares to leave office, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday said his nation is embroiled in a new arms race and lashed out again at U.S. missile defense plans for Europe, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, Feb. 8).

Russia intends to upgrade its military and weaponry in order to counter inclusion of former Soviet block states in NATO, Putin said.

The arms race “is not our fault because we did not start it,” said Putin, who is expected to become Russian prime minister assuming his chosen successor, First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, wins the March 2 presidential election.

He added that Western powers have dismissed Russia’s grievances about the proposed missile shield, which would place 10 interceptors in Poland and a radar base in the Czech Republic.  Compromise plans offered by both Moscow and Washington have failed to find traction in the other capital.  “We haven't seen any real steps toward compromise,” Putin said.

NATO said the Russian leader’s confrontational remarks were unwarranted.

“I don’t think it’s fair to say we don’t hear Russian concerns, and I might add that NATO countries want as much as possible to meet those concerns, but we have to, of course, take into account the interest and security of NATO countries as well,” said spokesman James Appathurai.

Washington maintains that the missile shield would be part of a worldwide system to defend against missile attacks by nations such as Iran and North Korea.  U.S. State Department spokesman Tom Casey called the shield “a small and limited system, defensive in nature, [which] poses absolutely no threat to Russia’s strategic interests” (Mike Eckel, Associated Press I/Google News, Feb. 8).

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he believes Moscow remains open to a compromise on the proposed defenses after he discussed the project with a senior Russian official Saturday.

Gates expressed optimism about continuing the missile shield talks after meeting with Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov on the sidelines of a security conference in Munich.

“Regardless of what’s said in public, I think there is still an interest (in Moscow) in pursuing the dialogue, and we are doing that,” Gates said (Robert Burns, Associated Press II/International Herald Tribune, Feb. 9).

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