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RUSSIA THREATENS NEW DEPLOYMENTS TO OFFSET US MISSILE SHIELD
Andrzej Poczobut
Gazeta Wyborcza
http://wyborcza.pl/1,86871,5562840,Russia _Threatens_New_Deployments_to_Offset_US_Missile.ht ml
Aug 7 2008
Poland
Moscow has again threatened Poland and the Czech Republic. The
Russian ambassador in Minsk warned yesterday Russia would deploy new
missiles and bomber squadrons to Belarus and the Kaliningrad enclave
in response to the two countries' consent to host elements of the US
missile defence system
'If the US and Poland ultimately reach an agreement on the installation
of the missile defence system, Russia will need to consider what
steps to undertake and what decisions to make', Alexander Surikov,
the Russian ambassador to Belarus, said in Minsk yesterday.
According to Mr Surikov, such a response could be for Russia to
deploy to Belarus and the Kaliningrad enclave its ground-ground
Iskander-M missiles with which the Russian armed forces are currently
being equipped. The Iskanders-M in the Kaliningrad enclave would be
aimed at the Polish missile defence base, and those in Belarus - at
the radar base the Czechs have already agreed to host. Russia would
also move strategic bombers to bases in Belarus and around the city
of Kaliningrad.
This time the ambassador reserved that the 'installation of nuclear
weapons' was not being considered as an option. This marks a progress,
since a year ago the very same Mr Surikov spoke of Russia's plans
to deploy such weapons to Belarus in response to the missile defence
project. Later, under pressure from his superiors, he backed out on
those combative pledges.
Russian generals made similar threats as Mr Surikov last year. In
August, Col Gen Nikolai Bordyuzha, Secretary General of the Collective
Security Treaty Organisation (a military pact of the CIS, with
members including Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,
and Uzbekistan), said that the US missile defence project should be
responded to with a 'new international military structure resembling
Soviet military structures'.
The prospect of close military cooperation with Russia suits
Belarussian president Alexander Lukashenko, who has reacted equally
angrily to the US plans. Russia operates in Belarus a radiolocation
base called Volga in the town of Gantsevichi, and a navy remote
control centre in Vileika, Mink region.
Mr Lukashenko likes to remind the Russians, 'You have no manpower
between Moscow and the West except the 65,000-strong, well-equipped
and well-trained Belarussian army'.
And he has benefited from that - two years ago, Russia sold Belarus
the advanced S-300 ground-to-air missile defence systems, which were
deployed with the 115th Air Defence Brigade stationed right near the
Polish border. Mt Lukashenko also hopes for Russia to sell oil and gas
to Belarus at preferential prices as a means of returning the favour.
Mr Lukashenko would gladly hand over to the Russians the former Soviet
strategic bomber base in Machulishchi near Minsk and would like to
have the Iskander-M missiles, whose range of over 400 km would cover
most of Poland's territory.
But Russian military experts interviewed by Gazeta criticised Mr
Surikov's ideas.
According to Ruslan Pukhov, Director of the Moscow-based Centre for
Analysis of Strategies and Technologies, Mr Surikov had succumbed to
the tendency, currently fashionable in Russia, for sabre rattling.
'A couple of days ago we heard about our armed forces returning
to Cuba. Now the bombers and Iskanders to Belarus. We have enough
flight-worthy strategic members to send them from time to time on
ostentatious flights along Nato borders. The Iskanders are few too,
too few to have them in place where they are really needed: near
the border with Georgia and near Nagorno-Karabakh, where tension is
growing between Armenia and Azerbaijan', said Mr Pukhov.
According to Alexander Khramchin at the Institute for Political
and Military Analysis in Moscow too deploying strategic bombers and
missiles to Belarus would be 'utter stupidity and mismanagement'.
'The reasons why the Americans want to build the missile defence in
Poland don't convince me. But some Russian generals' and politicians'
propositions are even more amazing', said Mr Khramchin.
'As part of standard mutual deterioration procedures, the missile
shield will be put on the list of our missile forces' targets. This is
not any particularly hostile gesture - after all, the anti-air system
around Moscow is on the list of US targets. We don't have mid-range
missiles, so either one of the intercontinental missiles stationed in
Russia will be retargeted on the missile shield base, or the military
will designate aircraft with cruise missiles that will be responsible
for destroying the base in case of conflict', said Mr Khramchin.
Andrzej Poczobut
Gazeta Wyborcza
http://wyborcza.pl/1,86871,5562840,Russia _Threatens_New_Deployments_to_Offset_US_Missile.ht ml
Aug 7 2008
Poland
Moscow has again threatened Poland and the Czech Republic. The
Russian ambassador in Minsk warned yesterday Russia would deploy new
missiles and bomber squadrons to Belarus and the Kaliningrad enclave
in response to the two countries' consent to host elements of the US
missile defence system
'If the US and Poland ultimately reach an agreement on the installation
of the missile defence system, Russia will need to consider what
steps to undertake and what decisions to make', Alexander Surikov,
the Russian ambassador to Belarus, said in Minsk yesterday.
According to Mr Surikov, such a response could be for Russia to
deploy to Belarus and the Kaliningrad enclave its ground-ground
Iskander-M missiles with which the Russian armed forces are currently
being equipped. The Iskanders-M in the Kaliningrad enclave would be
aimed at the Polish missile defence base, and those in Belarus - at
the radar base the Czechs have already agreed to host. Russia would
also move strategic bombers to bases in Belarus and around the city
of Kaliningrad.
This time the ambassador reserved that the 'installation of nuclear
weapons' was not being considered as an option. This marks a progress,
since a year ago the very same Mr Surikov spoke of Russia's plans
to deploy such weapons to Belarus in response to the missile defence
project. Later, under pressure from his superiors, he backed out on
those combative pledges.
Russian generals made similar threats as Mr Surikov last year. In
August, Col Gen Nikolai Bordyuzha, Secretary General of the Collective
Security Treaty Organisation (a military pact of the CIS, with
members including Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,
and Uzbekistan), said that the US missile defence project should be
responded to with a 'new international military structure resembling
Soviet military structures'.
The prospect of close military cooperation with Russia suits
Belarussian president Alexander Lukashenko, who has reacted equally
angrily to the US plans. Russia operates in Belarus a radiolocation
base called Volga in the town of Gantsevichi, and a navy remote
control centre in Vileika, Mink region.
Mr Lukashenko likes to remind the Russians, 'You have no manpower
between Moscow and the West except the 65,000-strong, well-equipped
and well-trained Belarussian army'.
And he has benefited from that - two years ago, Russia sold Belarus
the advanced S-300 ground-to-air missile defence systems, which were
deployed with the 115th Air Defence Brigade stationed right near the
Polish border. Mt Lukashenko also hopes for Russia to sell oil and gas
to Belarus at preferential prices as a means of returning the favour.
Mr Lukashenko would gladly hand over to the Russians the former Soviet
strategic bomber base in Machulishchi near Minsk and would like to
have the Iskander-M missiles, whose range of over 400 km would cover
most of Poland's territory.
But Russian military experts interviewed by Gazeta criticised Mr
Surikov's ideas.
According to Ruslan Pukhov, Director of the Moscow-based Centre for
Analysis of Strategies and Technologies, Mr Surikov had succumbed to
the tendency, currently fashionable in Russia, for sabre rattling.
'A couple of days ago we heard about our armed forces returning
to Cuba. Now the bombers and Iskanders to Belarus. We have enough
flight-worthy strategic members to send them from time to time on
ostentatious flights along Nato borders. The Iskanders are few too,
too few to have them in place where they are really needed: near
the border with Georgia and near Nagorno-Karabakh, where tension is
growing between Armenia and Azerbaijan', said Mr Pukhov.
According to Alexander Khramchin at the Institute for Political
and Military Analysis in Moscow too deploying strategic bombers and
missiles to Belarus would be 'utter stupidity and mismanagement'.
'The reasons why the Americans want to build the missile defence in
Poland don't convince me. But some Russian generals' and politicians'
propositions are even more amazing', said Mr Khramchin.
'As part of standard mutual deterioration procedures, the missile
shield will be put on the list of our missile forces' targets. This is
not any particularly hostile gesture - after all, the anti-air system
around Moscow is on the list of US targets. We don't have mid-range
missiles, so either one of the intercontinental missiles stationed in
Russia will be retargeted on the missile shield base, or the military
will designate aircraft with cruise missiles that will be responsible
for destroying the base in case of conflict', said Mr Khramchin.