Russia’s European target threat
MOSCOW: President Vladimir Putin said yesterday Russia would be forced to target any European countries that agreed to host United States nuclear missiles following Washington’s withdrawal from a landmark Cold warera arms control treaty.
Speaking after holding talks with Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, Putin said he wanted to discuss with US President Donald Trump its plans to leave the IntermediateRange Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty.
The two leaders are expected to hold talks in Paris on November 11.
Russia has called Trump’s decision to quit the 1987 treaty, which eliminated both countries’ landbased short and intermediaterange ballistic missiles from Europe, dangerous.
Trump has accused Russia of violating the treaty, something Moscow denies. It says Washington is the one violating it.
US national security adviser John Bolton told Putin earlier this week Washington would press ahead with plans to quit the pact despite objections from Russia and some European countries.
Putin said yesterday Russia would have to respond in kind and would do so swiftly if the US quit the pact.
‘‘Answering your question directly, can we respond,’’ Putin said, when asked what Russia would do if Trump made good on his pledge to leave the treaty.
‘‘We can, and it will be very fast and very effective,’’ he said.
‘‘If the United States does withdraw from the INF treaty, the main question is what they will do with these [intermediaterange] missiles that will once again appear.
‘‘If they will deliver them to Europe, naturally our response will have to mirror this, and European countries that agree to host them . . . must understand that they are putting their own territory at risk of a possible counterstrike.’’
Putin said he wanted to avoid putting Europe in such danger.
Russia has the option of deploying intermediaterange missiles in its European exclave of Kaliningrad on the Baltic Sea, a move that would put a swath of Europe in range.
Putin said he feared the world might be about to slip into an arms race, saying the fate of another USRussian arms control treaty — the new Start pact — which governs strategic nuclear missile launchers and is due to expire in 2021, was also unclear. — Reuters