By Adrian Blomfield in Moscow
Russia is to withdraw from Europe's key arms control treaty in response to United States plans to install missile defence systems in Eastern Europe, Vladimir Putin announced yesterday. The Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty, which was signed in the dying months of the Cold War, is regarded as the cornerstone of stability in Europe. It places limits on the number of conventional weapons and foreign forces that can be deployed among member nations. In his annual state of the nation address, the Russian president accused the United States of a plot to build up its military forces on Russia's western borders. "Our partners are conducting themselves incorrectly to say the least, gaining one-sided advances," he said. "They are using the complicated situation to expand military bases near our borders. Moreover they plan to locate elements of a missile defence system in the Czech Republic and Poland." Already strained relations between the two Cold War superpowers deteriorated markedly when the Pentagon announced plans to place 10 interceptor missiles in Poland and a radar system in the Czech Republic. Moscow has rejected Washington's pleas that the shield was meant to defend Europe from a rogue missile attack by Iran, claiming that Russia's nuclear arsenal was the target. American attempts to mollify the Kremlin by inviting Russia to inspect the proposed sites and co-operate in the project have been rebuffed. In the first indication that the United States was losing patience with Moscow's intransigence on the issue, Condoleezza Rice, the secretary of state, yesterday described Russia's fears as "ludicrous". "The Russians have thousands of warheads," she told a press conference in Oslo prior to a Nato meeting. "The idea that somehow you can stop the Russian strategic nuclear deterrent with a few interceptors just doesn't make sense." Mr Putin said he had decided to declare a moratorium on an updated version of the treaty because Nato powers had failed to ratify it. The United States and its Nato allies have said they would not ratify the treaty until Russia withdrew its troops from Moscow-backed breakaway republics in Georgia and Moldova - an argument the Kremlin dismisses as a pretext to allow Washington to boost its military presence in eastern Europe. Yesterday, Miss Rice urged Russia to live up to its commitments. "These are treaty obligations and everyone is expected to live up to treaty obligations," Miss Rice said. It is unclear what Moscow would gain by withdrawing from the treaty beyond being freed to move additional troops into western Russia, or possibly into Belarus, which shares a border with the European Union. Analysts suggested that there was a certain amount of posturing on Mr Putin's part. Already regarded as an energy superpower, Russia is desperate to be taken seriously as a military power too. Defence spending has quadrupled under Mr Putin and an ambitious strategy to modernise the military was announced last year, including plans for a new generation of ballistic missiles capable of breaching US defences. With these grandiose plans under his belt, Mr Putin is aggrieved that he is not being given the respect he feels he deserves by the United States, analysts say. Washington has dragged its feet on Russian proposals for a new bilateral treaty on reducing nuclear weapons, similar to those signed during the Cold War, which would give Mr Putin enormous domestic prestige. With a presidential election due early next year, Mr Putin's protests may also have a domestic dimension. By teaching Russians that the United States is again a military threat, they are less likely to vote for the liberal opposition, which, Mr Putin claimed in his speech, was being funded by western governments. |
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