[A-List] Russia: rejecting US overtures; NATO split

["Michael Keaney" <michael011@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Putin Plays Hard Ball as Rice Reassures 'Soviets'
April 26, 2007
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,479621,00.html

Russian President Vladimir Putin has declared a moratorium on a 1990
arms control treaty in response to US plans for a missile shield in
Europe. Condoleezza Rice, meanwhile, has blasted Moscow's fears as being
"ludicrous."

Conflict over plans by the United States to build a missile defense
shield in Europe continues to grow, with Moscow proving resistant to
American attempts to include Russia and US Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice slowly losing patience with the "Soviets."

The rhetoric heated up Thursday as Putin, in his annual speech to both
houses of parliament, said he was suspending Russia's obligations under
the 1990 Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) treaty, in response to the
US missile shield plans. He said the NATO signatories to the treaty were
not respecting it, and criticized US plans to locate elements of the
anti-missile defense shield in Eastern Europe, saying they create "real
dangers and possibly unpleasant surprises." The US claims that the
planned missile shield is intended to protect the US and its European
allies from a ballistic missile attack from a so-called "rogue" state
such as Iran.

"(NATO countries) are ... building up military bases on our borders and,
more than that, they are also planning to station elements of
anti-missile defense systems in Poland and the Czech Republic," Putin
said. "In this connection, I consider it expedient to declare a
moratorium on Russia's implementation of this treaty -- in any case,
until all countries of the world have ratified and started to strictly
implement it. ... I propose discussing this problem in the NATO-Russia
Council, and, should there be no progress in the negotiations, to look
at the possibility of ceasing our commitments under the CFE treaty."

The 1990 treaty between NATO and the then Warsaw Pact imposed limits on
conventional weapons in Europe for both sides. It was later adapted in
1999. However the NATO states have refused to ratify the adapted version
of the pact until Russia withdraws its troops from Georgia and Moldova,
angering Moscow.

Putin made the announcement as US Secretary of State Rice and NATO
counterparts prepared to meet Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at
a NATO-Russia meeting in Oslo. The missile shield plans are expected to
dominate the two-day talks.

Rice, speaking before Putin's speech, dismissed Russian concerns that
the missile shield could pose a threat to Russia, calling the idea
"ludicrous." She also accused the Russians of being stuck in a Cold War
mentality -- even as she herself mistakenly referred to Russia as
"Soviet."

"The idea that somehow 10 interceptors and a few radars in Eastern
Europe are going to threaten the Soviet strategic deterrent is purely
ludicrous and everybody knows it," she told reporters ahead of the Oslo
meeting. "The Russians have thousands of warheads. The idea that you can
somehow stop the Russian strategic nuclear deterrent with a few
interceptors just doesn't make sense."

Rice said the United States was willing to keep talking to Russian
officials to "demystify" the missile shield -- a project about which
some European allies also have misgivings. "We are very happy to
continue this dialogue but we have to continue on a basis of a realistic
assessments of what we are proposing, not one that is grounded somehow
in the 1980s," said Rice.

US Defense Secretary Robert Gates tried to win support for the plan this
week during visits to Russia, Poland and Germany, where he attempted to
get Russia on board as a partner in the project. "The days of the Cold
War are over and no one should seek a return to them," Gates said after
meetings in Moscow on Monday. "We invite Russia to join our defensive
endeavor as a partner."

Gates said that the missile shield was planned with an eye to future
geopolitical developments and is intended to protect against both states
and non-state groups which could acquire long-range strike capabilities
in the medium term. "We aren't talking about tomorrow or next year but
rather thinking about what the world might look like in 10 or 20 years,"
Gates told reporters in Poland on Tuesday.

Gates and Rice continued the charm offensive with a guest op-ed piece in
Germany's center-left daily Süddeutsche Zeitung on Thursday entitled "We
Do Not Want a New Arms Race." In the editorial, the two politicians
emphasize that the planned system is strictly for defensive purposes.
"The system that we are envisioning is limited and the (defensive)
missiles are not equipped with warheads," they write. "This system is
completely useless against a huge arsenal of nuclear and ballistic
missiles such as that of Russia. Talk of a new 'arms race' with Russia
is anachronistic and unrealistic."

Diplomats are reported to not be expecting much progress from the
meeting with Lavrov. Russia's "bloodcurdling" rhetoric -- to quote one
senior NATO diplomat -- has rattled some in Western Europe, who fear the
damage done to relations with the Kremlin will outweigh any benefits of
the proposed missile shield.

German Deputy Foreign Minister Gernot Erler told the Berliner Zeitung
newspaper in an interview in its Wednesday edition that at least six
unnamed allies -- including Germany -- had raised doubts about the
project at a NATO meeting last week.


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