Russia has warned that it may deliver a potentially unpleasant “technical response” to NATO over the planned deployment of a NATO missile system in Europe.
"The Russian response is currently mostly virtual, political, and diplomatic in character, but under certain circumstances we would be forced to deliver a technical response, which I don't think you'll like," UPI quoted Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin as saying at a meeting with NATO Parliamentary Assembly in Moscow on Thursday.
The United States and NATO agreed to establish a missile system during a summit in Lisbon in 2010, but negotiations between Russia and the Western military alliance have foundered on NATO’s refusal to give Russia legal guarantees that the system would not target the country’s strategic nuclear deterrent.
Moscow has also called for the shared control of any missile system. Washington, however, refuses to share the system’s control with any third party.
In return, Russia has threatened to aim a new generation of missiles at military targets in Europe and to deploy its own missile interceptors in the Kaliningrad region on the Baltic Sea coast.
On Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin called NATO “a Cold War atavism,” saying the alliance should turn into a political organization.
"Why it (NATO) still exists in modern times, is just not clear. It is to a significant extent a throwback to the times of the Cold War," Putin said.
"I have always believed that NATO is a Cold War atavism. It was set up at a time, when there was a bipolar system in international relations. Today, that situation has changed therefore, it is hard to understand or justify why an organization such as NATO should be existing today,” the president added.
Russia has repeatedly objected to the establishment of the NATO missile system, saying the country is the main target of the system as it possesses a significant number of nuclear weapons.
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Monday, October 22nd 2012 at 12:19PM
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