Webloggin » Putin Sends Warning to U.S. On Missile Defense System

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Russian President Vladimir Putin warned the European Union and the United States that Russia may pull out of the 1990 Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) treaty if the United States doesn’t halt plans to deploy a missile defense system in Europe.

He made the threat today in an address to the Russian Parliament and essentially called the United States foreign meddlers in Russian Affairs. Putin also called for an increase in domestic oil processing to eliminate independence of foreign companies.

In addressing the Russian Parliament Putin specifically made a point to address non-Nato members that have a stake in European Affairs. Those countries are specifically North Korea and Iran. Putin likely also includes Venezuela in that list since Putin has allied with Chavez on lucrative military contracts, arms shipments and investment in Venezuela’s oil industry.

It is obvious that the United States’ plans to deploy a missile defence system in Europe are not exclusively a Russian-American relations problem. To some extent it affects the interests of all European states, including those that are not Nato members. This issue deserves, I would even say demands, to be discussed at the OSCE (Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe), in the framework of the organisation’s military-political dimension.

It is time to fill the OSCE’s activities with real content, to steer the organisation to face the problems that truly concern the peoples of Europe, rather than merely seeking fleas across the former Soviet Union.

Putin’s speech coincides with President Bush’s announced visit to Prague in June. The visit is planned to discuss January’s announcement that the United States would launch a radar facility in the Czech Republic along with a missile-defense system in Poland to counter possible military attacks from Iran and North Korea; two countries that have repeatedly undermined and threatened the United States with nuclear ambitions.

April 26 (Bloomberg) — President George W. Bush called his Czech counterpart to discuss the planned U.S. missile-defense system here and in neighboring Poland.

Czech President Vaclav Klaus and Bush discussed the plan, which is rejected by a majority of the Czech population, yesterday, Klaus’s office said in an e-mailed statement today.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates recently met with Putin to convince them that the system does not pose any threat to the Russians and seeked their involvement but apparently that meeting did not hold sway.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who met with President Vladimir Putin and Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov during his recent visit to Moscow, attempted to convince the Russian leadership that the U.S. missile shield does not pose any threat to Russia, and suggested that Moscow could cooperate with Washington on a whole range of issues related to the missile defense system.

However, Russia’s top brass reacted swiftly and categorically to the U.S. proposal by blasting Washington’s position at a news conference at RIA Novosti Tuesday.

Army General Yury Baluyevsky said Russia came up with a proposal to create a European missile defense system back in 1994 and started its implementation in the framework of the Russia-NATO Council, achieving positive results in the process.

“But today, when we are asked to contribute those results to the creation of a global U.S. missile defense network, we will not cooperate on a project that is clearly aimed against us,” Baluyevsky said.

The Russian general questioned the U.S. assessment of a potential missile threat from so-called “rogue” states.

Sergei Rogov, head of the Institute of the U.S. and Canadian Studies in Russia claimed that the two countries are on the brink of a new Cold War in a Russian news release yesterday.

“We are still hostages of mutual nuclear intimidation,” he said adding that both countries still have a huge nuclear potential, which is unnecessary when the countries are really partners on the international arena.

The expert said that both countries have come close to a threshold, when relations between Russia and the United States could become confrontational.

“We are on the brink of a new ‘Cold War’ if one looks closely at our [Russian-U.S.] present day relations,” he said adding that if the situation did not change, negative tendencies in relations between both countries will continue to develop.

“I do not rule out that at the 2008 presidential elections in the United States both Republicans and Democrats may bring forward a thesis on the need for a Russia containment policy,” Rogov said.

Putin is set to step down as president in 2008 at the end of his second term.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called Putin’s concerns over the missile shield “ludicrous”.

Update: Some may think it strange that I mentioned Venezuela in this article. The mention is really meant to put a focus on Russia and the multifaceted relations that link back to Tehran. Recall back on April 15th that Chavez defended Iran’s nuclear program and sent a warning to the United States not to attack its ally. So essentially we have a three way alliance where Russia provides Iran with nuclear technology, scientists and supplies while Venezuela exerts pressure on the United States as the fifth largest supplier of American oil. A conflict against either Iran or Venezuela would draw in the Russians and it appears that Putin is willing to play these cards for strategic advantage.

Which leaves us with our leadership in Congress. At no point in time has the need for a unified message from Washington been more important; one that does not include an option for failure. Wretchard at The Belmont Club hit the nail on the head with the following observation:

With the mood in Congress being what it is, it is entirely possible that the Democrats will urge the President to abandon the plans for the missile defense of Europe, effectively giving Iran the power of blackmail over an already terrified and cowed Continent. Having acquired the taste to withdraw, why not withdraw further? If backward is good, further backward is even better. The enemy goes from strength to strength and the Western leadership remains stuck on a circular track in a virtual Munich.

Others: Wizbang