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Kremlin angered as US switches on missile shield in Romania
(about 4 hours later)
The US has switched on an $800m (£550m) missile shield in Romania that it sees as vital to defend itself and Europe from so-called rogue states, but which the Kremlin says is aimed at blunting its own nuclear arsenal.
The US has switched on a missile shield in Romania that it sees as vital to defending itself and Europe from long-range missiles fired by rogue states, prompting anger from the Kremlin which believes the shield’s main goal is to weaken its own strategic nuclear capabilities.
To the music of military bands at the remote Deveselu airbase, senior US and Nato officials declared operational the ballistic missile defence site, which is capable of shooting down rockets from countries such as Iran that Washington says could one day target major European cities.
The eventual missile shield will stretch from Greenland to the Azores, and will be ready by the end of 2018. On Friday, the US will break ground on a final site in Poland. The proposal was first agreed by the administration of George W Bush a decade ago and is a longstanding gripe for Moscow, despite repeated assurances from Washington that it is not aimed against Russia.
“As long as Iran continues to develop and deploy ballistic missiles, the United States will work with its allies to defend Nato,” said the US deputy defence secretary, Robert Work, standing in front of the shield’s massive grey concrete housing, which was adorned with a US flag.
“From the very beginning of this whole story, we have said that according to our experts’ opinion, we are convinced that the deployment of the missile defence system is truly a threat to Russia’s security,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in Moscow. He said Russia was already taking measures to “secure the necessary level of security”.
Control of the missile shield will be handed over to Nato in July, with command and control run from a US airbase in Germany.
On Thursday US officials again insisted Moscow was not the intended target.
“As long as Iran continues to develop and deploy ballistic missiles, the United States will work with its allies to defend Nato,” said the US deputy defence secretary, Robert Work, standing in front of the shield’s massive grey concrete housing that was adorned with a US flag.
Despite Washington’s plans to continue to develop the capabilities of its system, Work said the shield would not be used against any future Russian missile threat. “There are no plans at all to do that,” he told a news conference.
Despite Washington’s plans to continue to develop the capabilities of its system, Work said the shield would not be used against any future Russian missile threat. “There are no plans at all to do that,” he told a news conference.
Before the ceremony, Frank Rose, deputy US assistant secretary of state for arms control, said Iran’s ballistic missiles could hit parts of Europe, including Romania.
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When complete, the defensive umbrella will stretch from Greenland to the Azores. On Friday the US will break ground on a final site in Poland due to be ready by late 2018, completing the defence line first proposed almost a decade ago.
However, relations between Russia and the west have deteriorated in the past two years, with the annexation of Crimea and the war in east Ukraine. Europe is more concerned about the security threat from Russia than at any time since the cold war, while Moscow is convinced Nato and the west are attempting to encircle it. Russia is reinforcing its western and southern flanks with three new divisions, while Nato is strengthening its presence in eastern Europe.
The full shield also includes ships and radars across Europe. It will be handed over to Nato in July, with command and control run from a US airbase in Germany.
Admiral Vladimir Komoyedov, the chairman of the State Duma’s defence committee, called the missile defence site a threat to Russia: “They are moving to the firing line. This is not just 100; it’s 200, 300, 1,000% aimed against us.”
Russia is incensed at such of show of force by its cold war rival in formerly communist-ruled eastern Europe. Moscow says the US-led alliance is trying to encircle it close to the strategically important Black Sea, home to a Russian naval fleet and where Nato is also considering increasing patrols.
Poland is concerned Russia may retaliate further by announcing the deployment of nuclear weapons to its enclave of Kaliningrad, located between Poland and Lithuania. Russia has stationed anti-aircraft and anti-ship missiles there, able to cover huge areas and complicate Nato’s ability to move around.
“It is part of the military and political containment of Russia,” Andrey Kelin, a senior Russian foreign ministry official, was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency.
The Kremlin says the shield’s aim is to neutralise Moscow’s nuclear arsenal long enough for the US to strike Russia in the event of war. While US and Nato officials were adamant that the shield was designed to counter threats from the Middle East and not Russia, they remained vague on whether the radars and interceptors could be reconfigured to defend against Russia in a conflict.
“These decisions by Nato can only exacerbate an already difficult situation,” he added. Kelin said the move would hinder efforts to repair ties between Russia and the alliance.
“Missile defence ... does not undermine or weaken Russia’s strategic nuclear deterrent,” Nato’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, said at the base in Deveselu, southern Romania.
The office of the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, said Moscow doubted Nato’s stated aim of protecting the alliance against Iranian rockets, following a historic nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers last year that Russia helped to negotiate. “The situation with Iran has changed dramatically,” said Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
At a cost of billions of dollars, the missile defence umbrella relies on radars to detect a ballistic missile launch into space. Sensors then measure the rocket’s trajectory and destroy it in space before it re-enters the earth’s atmosphere. The interceptors can be fired from ships or ground sites.
Nato is preparing a new deterrent in Poland and the Baltics, following Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea. In response, Russia is reinforcing its western and southern flanks with three new divisions.
Poland is concerned that Russia may retaliate further by announcing the deployment of nuclear weapons to its enclave of Kaliningrad, located between Poland and Lithuania. Russia has stationed anti-aircraft and anti-ship missiles there, able to cover huge areas and complicate Nato’s ability to move around.
The Kremlin says the shield’s aim is to neutralise Moscow’s nuclear arsenal long enough for the US to strike Russia in the event of war. Washington and Nato deny that.
“Missile defence … does not undermine or weaken Russia’s strategic nuclear deterrent,” said Jens Stoltenberg, the Nato secretary general, at the Deveselu base.
Douglas Lute, the US envoy to Nato, said Nato would press ahead with its biggest modernisation since the cold war. “We are deploying at sea, on the ground and in the air across the eastern flanks of the alliance … to deter any aggressor,” Lute said.
At a cost of billions of dollars, the missile defence umbrella relies on radars to detect a ballistic missile launch into space. Sensors then measure the rocket’s trajectory and destroy it in space before it re-enters Earth’s atmosphere. The interceptors can be fired from ships or ground sites.
Related: Nato and US defence chiefs issue security warnings over Brexit
The Romanian shield was first assembled in New Jersey and then transferred to the Deveselu base in containers.
While US and Nato officials are adamant that the shield is designed to counter threats from the Middle East and not Russia, they remained vague on whether the radars and interceptors could be reconfigured to defend against Russia in a conflict.
The US says Russia has ballistic missiles, in breach of a treaty which agreed that the two powers must not develop and deploy missiles with a range of 500km to 5,500km (310-3,400 miles). The US declared Russia in non-compliance of the treaty in July 2014.
The issue remains sensitive because the US does not want to give the impression it would be able to shoot down Russian ballistic missiles carrying nuclear warheads, which is what Russia fears.
