NATO Missile Defense Forcing Russia To Take Countermeasures

February 10, 2013 • 1:57PM

The lack of agreement on missile defense may negatively affect Russia-NATO cooperation in other areas, too, because Russian relations to the Western alliance rely on strategic stability, Russian Ambassador to NATO Alexander Grushko said in Brussels yesterday. As reported on Voice of Russia radio this morning, Grushko warned that if the nuclear balance is upset by the realization of NATO-supported U.S. plans for a stage-by-stage deployment of a missile defense system, this would strongly affect the entire range of cooperation in the framework of the Russia-NATO Council.

Russia'’s probable retaliation measures to the missile defense system also were on the agenda of talks which Speaker of the State Duma Sergey Naryshkin had with French members of parliament in Paris on Feb. 6 Naryshkin stressed that Russia needs "guarantees backed by objective technical parameters that this system will not be targeted against Russia.... When someone tells us in words that this system is not targeted against Russia but refuses to sign a legally binding agreement in deeds, this certainly raises doubts in us," he said, insisting that security should be equal for all countries and indivisible.

Naryshkin warned that Moscow "cannot twiddle its thumbs while its U.S. partners make decisions on deploying missile defense elements in Europe and putting them into practice.... But this is surely not our choice." Naryshkin said Russia will have to take measures in response to the missile defense system's deployment.