Drawing by Niyaz Karim
Russian
Ambassador to NATO Dmitry Rogozin has proposed creating a joint U.S.-Russia missile
defense system, which in addition to its defense capabilities, would also protect
the Earth against asteroids. The recent unexpected proposal could help the
two countries break a vicious cycle.
The
project is code-named Strategic Defense of the Earth. It has been introduced to
President Dmitry Medvedev who called it “interesting.” The president tasked
Rogozin and foreign policy advisor Sergei Prikhodko with finalizing the
project.
Aside from this proposal, the Russian-U.S. standoff over missile defense is looking increasingly like a never-ending saga.
In
2001, shortly after withdrawing from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missle Treaty, the
George W. Bush administration announced plans to deploy interceptor missiles in
Poland and a radar defense system in the Czech Republic, which Moscow saw as a
threat to its strategic security. Now, 10 years later, international experts
admit that negotiations on missile defense have reached an impasse.
Although
President Barack Obama has changed tactics and shelved the plans for Poland and
the Czech Republic, Washington has not abandoned the idea of a
European-American missile defense system.
According
to the Pentagon’s Missile Defense Agency, the new American missile defense
system, the Euro-ABM, will be built in four stages. The first stage involves
deploying interceptor missile ships to the Mediterranean Sea, which has already
been done, and constructing a radar system in Southern Europe. The second phase
envisages installing new SM-3 interceptor missiles in Romania by 2015.
Washington and Bucharest signed an agreement on this on Sept. 13.
The third
phase would deploy SM-3 interceptor missiles to Poland by 2018, and by 2020,
phase four would replace those with even more powerful interceptor missiles
capable of defending the entire territory of NATO member states against all
types of ballistic missile threats, including intercontinental ones.
Needless
to say, Moscow has strongly opposed these plans. Earlier this month, Russia
said it was beginning to prepare a military response to Washington’s actions.
The rebuttal to the European missile shield will be Russia’s newest tactical
ballistic missile system, the Iskander M, which will be deployed to the city of
Luga in the Leningrad Region outside St. Petersburg.
After
Michael McFaul, President Obama’s nominee to become the next U.S. Ambassador to
Russia, refused to provide legal guarantees that the Euro-ABM system is not
aimed at Russia, Moscow announced the deployment of its first brigades fully
equipped with Iskander guided-missile systems capable of carrying nuclear
weapons.
The
Americans have repeatedly stressed their willingness to provide the requested
guarantees, including in written form, but not as legally binding documents. In
mid-October, Missile Defense Agency Director Patrick O'Reilly invited Russian
observers to take part in flight tests for the interceptors that will be
deployed in Europe. Russia responded by proposing a common anti-asteroid
shield. Now it’s NATO’s turn to react.
All rights reserved by Rossiyskaya Gazeta.
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