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Putin: "new round of the arms race"
So... this is just getting so obvious...
| quote: | Russia blames US in missile row
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said a recent ballistic missile test was in answer to US plans to create a defence shield in Central Europe.
Mr Putin said it was a "response to maintain the strategic balance in the world", in what he called a "new round of the arms race".
He added that Russia would continue to improve its resources.
Russia tested a new intercontinental ballistic missile, which can be armed with up to 10 warheads, on Tuesday.
| quote: | These actions by Russia should not be feared, they are not aggressive
President Vladimir Putin |
"Our American partners have left the ABM (Anti-Ballistic Missile) Treaty," Mr Putin told a press conference.
"We have warned them then that we will come out with a response to maintain the strategic balance in the world."
'New weapons'
Mr Putin defended Russia's actions, insisting they were not the "initiators of this new round of the arms race".
"(Our partners) are stuffing Eastern Europe with new weapons," he said.
"A new base in Bulgaria, another in Romania, a site in Poland, radar in the Czech Republic. What are we supposed to do? We cannot just observe all this."
He added: "These actions by Russia should not be feared, they are not aggressive, it's just an answer to rather tough and unjustified unilateral actions by partners."
Washington wants to deploy interceptor rockets in Poland and a radar base in the Czech Republic to counter what it describes as a potential threat from "rogue states" such as Iran and North Korea.
The US maintains its system is not directed at the Russians, but Moscow says its security is being threatened.
Russia's test launch took place at the Plesetsk cosmodrome in northern Russia on 29 May.
The missile, called RS-24, was designed to evade missile defence systems, the Russian defence ministry says.
The test missile successfully struck its target 5,500km (3,400 miles) away on the far eastern Kamchatka peninsula, the Russian Strategic Missile Forces said.
Published: 2007/05/31 13:53:28 GMT
© BBC MMVII |
Source: BBC
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"The Greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge." -Stephen Hawking
"First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out— because I was not a communist;
Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out— because I was not a socialist;
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out— because I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out— because I was not a Jew;
Then they came for me— and there was no one left to speak out for me." -Martin Niemöller
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