Putin says new weapons to counter US shield

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Tuesday warned that Moscow would pursue plans for new weapons to counter the US missile defense system.

The premier told reporters in the southeastern city of Vladivostok that Washington's bids for a missile defense system are the biggest obstacle in bilateral talks aimed at reaching a new deal to reduce nuclear arsenals produced during the Cold War rush.

While both sides have been optimistic that a successor to the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START I) would soon be penned, but the new comments betray more serious problems facing the deal, already delayed when the two nuclear powers failed to agree on a new outline by the treaty's expiring date, December 5.

Subsequently, START I was extended until a new draft was mutually agreed on.

"What is the problem? The problem is that our American partners are building an anti-missile shield and we are not building one."

Russia's strong objections to a US missile shield in Eastern Europe as well as questions over the system's efficiency, prompted US President Barack Obama to scrap the plans introduced under former President George W. Bush.

The decision was also in line with Washington's efforts to mend relations with Moscow, which plummeted to a Cold War-era low during the Bush administration.

The new plans envision US navy ships equipped with anti-missile weapons forming a front line of defense in the eastern Mediterranean. The plans include land-based missile interceptors placed on shore in Europe.

Moscow, however, insists it continues to view a US missile shield in any form as a ploy to undermine its security, forcing it to take action with developing new weapons.

Putin went on to add that White House policymakers would feel too comfortable behind the missile "umbrella" and could proceed to do as they pleased.

"If we are not developing an anti-missile shield, then there is a danger that our partners, by creating such 'an umbrella', will feel completely secure and thus can allow themselves to do what they want, disrupting the balance, and aggressiveness will rise immediately," he stressed.

Putin also offered to share details about Russia's deployed nuclear offensive missiles, in return for more information about the US plans.

"The problems of anti-missile defense and offensive weapons are very tightly linked to each other," he said, adding that talks on a new treaty were moving in a generally positive direction.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=114893§ionid=351020602.