Russia Seeks Missile Defense Link Clause
Negotiations between Russia and the U.S. to renew the START treaty are ongoing. Russia wants to link offensive and defensive systems. The AP reported that President Dmitry Medvedev and President Barack Obama agreed to the link, but negotiations are stalled over the language.
It’s no surprise that Russia also wants access to our missile defense strategy in Eastern and Central Europe. In fact, Russia believes it got the short end of the deal in the earlier treaty. “If the Americans continue to expand their missile defenses, they will certainly target our nuclear capability and in this case the balance of forces will shift in favor of the United States,” General Nikolai Makarov said. (Source)
Riki Ellison of the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance believes there should be no missile defense link in the new treaty.
“Giving up missile defense protection of the U.S., Europe or any place we have troops and allies, in exchange for a reduction of arms with Russia is unfair, unsafe and would leave us defenseless against the current threats from Iran and North Korea as well as other future threats,” he said in a 33-minutes blog interview last week.
Tags: Dmitry Medvedev, Riki Ellison, Russia