Putin alarmed over US military buildup

MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin warned the leaders of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) of the threats posed by the United States military buildup to global security.

At a CIS summit in the Turkmen capital of Ashgabat, Putin recalled the United States withdrawal from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty and intention to deploy previously banned missiles.

“Pentagon officials have already announced that they plan to deploy them in Asia. They have announced this directly and publicly and are negotiating with Japan and South Korea,” Putin said in a speech published on the Kremlin website.

He said he had sent an appeal to the heads of state of many countries, stating that Russia would not deploy intermediate- range missiles, when it has them, in regions free of such US missiles, but received no reply from the US and its allies.

“I think that the United States does not answer intentionally, and the US allies cannot answer because in this aspect their sovereignty is very limited and they simply do not have their own say or their own opinion on this issue,” Putin said.

Putin welcomed a proposal by Belarius at the recent session of the UN General Assembly to prepare a multilateral declaration on the non- deployment of ground-based intermediate-range missiles in Europe.

He also thanked CIS countries for their support of a joint statement initiated by Russia on the prevention of an arms race in outer space.

According to Putin, the deployment of combat systems on the Earth’s orbit will worsen global security even more than the deployment of intermediate-range missiles in Europe.

Founded in 1991 as a regional organization of former Soviet republics, the CIS comprises Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Ukraine and Turkmenistan are associate members.