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Putin Blasts U.S. ABM Plan
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday strongly denounced the U.S. plan to deploy a national missile defense (NMD) system and urged Europe to support the preservation of the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) treaty.
The creation of the national missile shield is a "big strategic error that will only increase strategic threats to the United States and Russia, as well as other states," Putin said in an interview with the German newspaper Welt am Sonntag.
He said he sees no real missile threat from the so-called "rogue countries" mentioned by the U.S., and such a threat "is not going to emerge in the visible future."
"The only reasonable and truly responsible approach lies in another sphere. There is a positive alternative to the deployment of the national ABM system," he said, stressing that "the powerful arsenal of political and diplomatic cooperation" should be brought in to tackle possible missile threats.
The Russia's constructive program to create an all-Europe non-strategic ABM system means further cooperation in the development of the disarmament process, including further profound reduction of strategic offensive weapons under the auspices of the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty-III (START III) and the preservation of the ABM treaty, said Putin.
He urged that non-proliferation regimes should be strengthened by establishing a global missile and missile technologies non-proliferation system.
If Washington withdraws from the ABM treaty, Russia will cancel its obligations not only under the START treaties, but also under the treaty on elimination of medium and shorter-range missiles, he warned.
He called on Europe to maintain the ABM treaty for "consolidating the stability in the continent and in the world," warning Great Britain, Denmark and Norway that they "will risk getting involved in the process to unpredictable destruction of the strategic stability if involved in the U.S. missile shield plan.
"The price could be very high," Putin emphasized.
He also said Russia is ready to discuss with all European states, including Germany, "our initiative on setting up a unified anti-missile defense system for Europe," which can "avoid the destruction of the balance of power and secure the security of all European nations."
Putin said that during his visit to Germany, scheduled for Jane 14, he will discuss with German leaders the Russian plan of developing a pan-European anti-missile system, adding that relations with Berlin is a priority of Moscow's foreign policy.
He believes that his forthcoming trip to Berlin will give the bilateral ties a new impetus.
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