Putin denounces US plan for missile shield
· Bush endangering peace in central Europe, EU told
· Russian minister repeats retaliation warning
Ian Traynor, Europe editor
Thursday May 24, 2007
The Guardian
President Vladimir Putin travelled to the heart of Europe yesterday to denounce the Bush administration's plans to deploy a missile defence shield in the region.
In his fourth anti-US salvo in as many months, the Russian leader took the floor in Vienna's Hofburg Palace, former seat of Austro-Hungarian emperors, to ask why the Americans were threatening the peace of central Europe by putting new radars and a silo of missile defence rockets in the Czech Republic and Poland.
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"What is happening in Europe that is so negative that we need to fill eastern Europe with new forms of weapons?" he asked. "What has happened that has worsened the situation in Europe and demands such actions? Nothing."
The Russian leader's uncompromising opposition to the Pentagon's plans to install elements of its missile shield project in central Europe followed a frosty summit last week with EU leaders, unproductive talks with Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, and Britain's indictment on Tuesday of an ex-KGB officer, Andrei Lugovoy, for the London murder of Alexander Litvinenko, a former KGB agent and fierce critic of Mr Putin.
Relations between Russia and the west are at their lowest ebb for 20 years, and senior European and Nato officials expect no let-up in the confrontational rhetoric from Moscow until Mr Putin's eight-year presidency comes to an end next year and the power struggle for the succession is resolved.
While Mr Putin denounced the Americans in Vienna, a principal contender to succeed him, Sergei Ivanov, argued that the US radar station planned for the Czech Republic would be able to spy deep into Russia. Mr Ivanov, a deputy prime minister, former defence minister, and, like Mr Putin, a KGB veteran, dismissed the US's insistence that the missile shield elements are to counter Iranian ballistic missiles, and not Russia's.
"The radar the US is planning to deploy in the Czech Republic will be capable of scanning air space up to the Ural mountains," he said. Reiterating warnings of retaliation, he added: "A more efficient sword can be found for every shield."
Mr Putin's performance in Vienna appeared to be part of a campaign to win over European public opinion against the Pentagon project in Europe. The Americans are engaged in a parallel effort, dispatching senior officials and officers to Europe and to Russia in recent weeks on a charm offensive.
The Kremlin is currently embroiled in a series of disputes with countries it used to control on its borders - from Estonia in the north to Georgia in the south. All the border countries perceive Mr Putin's Russia as a bully and are eager to attract US support and cover.
Mr Ivanov yesterday accused them of trying to construct a "cordon sanitaire" around Russia. "They are hurting their own interests and splitting their own societies," he warned. But the harsh rhetoric from the Kremlin since February has only strengthened the resolve of the Polish and Czech governments to host the missile shield bases. The Polish government said this week that the silo of anti-missile rockets should be installed within five years.
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Juniorbush claims that these bases in Poland and the Czech Republic are necessary to protect Europe from attack by "rogue nations"
Has anyone actually looked at a map?
What rogue nation could lob missiles over Poland into Western Europe?
Iran? North Korea?
Putin is a jerk, but he seems to be right to assume that this does NOT involve any "rogue nations", but rather is against Russia.
How stupid does Juniorbush want to think the world he is?
