U.S., Russia envoys seek to cool tension

NF Reporter · 02-25-2007, 04:17 PM

AP - The top U.S. and Russian diplomats on Sunday tried to play down concerns about a Cold War revival set off by Russian President Vladimir Putin's claim that Washington is fostering a global arms race.

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waltky · 08-10-2007, 12:37 PM

Russia revives Cold War...

Russia Says US Intercepted 2 of Its Bombers Over Pacific
Friday, August 10, 2007; Two Russian bombers flew thousands of miles across Pacific Ocean waters to the vicinity of Guam, site of a major U.S. military base, where U.S. jets intercepted them, the Russian air force said Thursday.

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The flights renewed a type of military gamesmanship that has been largely dormant in the Pacific since the Cold War ended. "It was always a tradition for our long-range aircraft to fly far over the ocean, where pilots met American airplanes and visually greeted them," Maj. Gen. Pavel Androsov told reporters Thursday. "On Wednesday, we renewed that tradition." U.S. officials confirmed the bombers' flight but not an interception.

The maneuver was Moscow's latest display of a resurgent armed forces after years of decline in the 1990s. Restoring the luster of the military has been a key element of President Vladimir Putin's effort to renew Russian pride, which collapsed along with the Soviet Union. An influx of oil money has allowed Russia to invest in new weaponry, expand its military presence in Europe and Asia, and conduct costly, elaborate exercises using aging elements of its arsenal. This week, Androsov said, the armed forces also carried out long-range flights over the Arctic and Atlantic oceans and launched eight cruise missiles.

Last week, Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov announced that the armed forces had received 36 new models of arms and equipment, while Russia's top navy commander called for a permanent naval presence in the Mediterranean Sea. Military analyst Alexander Golts said Russian military aircraft have flown training missions annually over the Atlantic since 1999 to simulate the launching of cruise missiles against the United States. "Since there's a lot of money, it seems they decided to try a flight to the Pacific reaches of the United States," Golts said in a telephone interview.

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waltky · 08-24-2007, 12:48 AM

Why Russia want a stealth bomber drone?

Russia unveils pilotless 'stealth' bomber
Friday, August 24, 2007 - Russia unveiled on Thursday the mock-up of a pilotless bomber plane that its constructors say will be even better than the famous US stealth fighter at evading enemy radars and anti-aircraft fire.

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NTV television showed a full-sized model of the bat-like plane known as Skat, which means "stingray," at an airshow just outside Moscow -- the first public glimpse of the project run by Russia's MiG corporation.

The aircraft has a flattened, swept-back profile reminiscent of the US air force's stealth aircraft, with a bubble-like cockpit area, although the plane will not have a pilot, NTV reported.

According to the report, the Skat's constructors claim the stealth technology will make it even less vulnerable than the US version to radar detection.

RIA Novosti news agency quoted the director of MiG's OKB Mikoyana design bureau, Vladimir Barkovsky, as saying that the Skat will be able to attack land and sea targets even while coming under heavy anti-aircraft fire.

It will weigh 10 tons and be able to carry up to two tons of ordnance and will have a range of 4,000 kilometers (2,485 miles), RIA Novosti reported.

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waltky · 12-16-2007, 11:32 PM

Russia startin' a new missile crisis...

Russia Deploys New Strategic Missiles
16 December 2007 - Russian news reports say the military has deployed another batch of intercontinental ballistic missiles.

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The announcement Sunday says three new Topol-M truck-mounted missile units have been positioned about 250 kilometers northeast of Moscow, in the Ivanovo region near Teikovo. A first batch of the mobile missiles were deployed in the area last year.

Analysts say the missile has an effective range of 10,000 kilometers and can carry a more than one-ton payload. Russian military chiefs have been quoted as saying the mobile Topol missiles are aimed at countering U.S. missile shield plans in central Europe. Russia opposes U.S. plans for 10 missile interceptors in Poland and guidance radar in the Czech Republic.

Washington says the missile shield will protect the United States and its European allies from potential missile attacks from Iran. But Moscow insists the U.S. deployment will destabilize central and eastern Europe and lead to a new arms race.

VOA News - Russia Deploys New Strategic Missiles

waltky · 02-12-2008, 10:58 PM

Russia rattlin' its saber...

Russia in Ukraine missile threat
Tuesday, 12 February 2008, Russia says it may target missiles at Ukraine if it joins Nato and deploys the US missile defence shield.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin made the comments in Moscow alongside Ukraine's President, Viktor Yushchenko. Mr Putin has condemned US plans to include Poland and the Czech Republic in its missile defence shield. The leaders had been meeting in urgent talks over a gas dispute and announced a deal to avoid disrupting supplies.

'Frightening'

Speaking at a news conference at the Kremlin on Tuesday, Mr Putin said he had advised Ukraine not to join Nato, but admitted he would be unable to interfere in any such move. "Restrictions on sovereignty... have already had certain consequences, such as the stationing of bases or a positioning area for missile defence in Eastern Europe, which we believe is aimed at neutralising our nuclear missile potential," he said.

"One must realise that everything Ukraine is doing in this area is certainly not aimed against any third country, especially Russia" - Viktor Yushchenko, Ukrainian President

More BBC NEWS | Europe | Russia in Ukraine missile threat

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Russian Foreign Minister Warns West Over Supporting Kosovo
February 12, 2008 - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has issued a warning Tuesday against any unilateral declaration of independence by the local government in Kosovo, saying such a decree would violate international law and damage Europe's security.

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"It would undermine the basics of security in Europe, and it would undermine the basics of the United Nations charter," Lavrov said a day after the European Union announced it would send a peacekeeping force to help secure a bloodless transition towards autonomy.

The Serbian province, Kosovo, could declare its independence as early as Sunday with its status expected to be acknowledged by Western countries. However, Lavrov warned that the move would illicit serious consequences but the Western countries deal with the issue haphazardly.

"Many of them, frankly, do not understand the risks and dangers and threats associated with a unilateral declaration of Kosovo independence," Lavrov added. "They do not understand that it would inevitably result in a chain reaction in many parts of the world, including Europe and elsewhere."

On Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin reaffirmed his stand on the issue saying that, "Russia is categorically against a unilateral declaration of independence." "This would risk provoking serious damage to the whole of the international legal system and would have negative consequences both for the Balkans and the world," he added.

Russian Foreign Minister Warns West Over Supporting Kosovo | February 12, 2008 | AHN

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waltky · 07-23-2008, 03:20 AM

Diplomats better get crackin'...

Russia flies back into Cuban controversy
Tuesday 22nd July, 2008 - The Russian newspaper Izvestia has reported that the military might fly long-range bombers to Cuba in response to the US plan to place missile defences in eastern Europe.

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Izvestia said the flights were under discussion by the country’s military officials but did not say whether the bases would be permanent or simply a re-fuelling stop. The nominee for the Chief of Staff of the Air Force in the US has warned Russia it would be crossing a red line if it were to put nuclear capable bombers into Cuba.

General Norman Schwartz at his nomination hearing said later to reporters: "I would certainly offer the best military advice that urge the Russians not to pursue that approach." He added Russia would be crossing the line if it did so.

Conducting long-range bomber patrols to Cuba would signal the military cooperation by former Cold War allies Russia and Cuba, and resurrect issues that first arose with the 1962 Cuban missile crisis in the heat of the cold war. The Russian moves has come amid rising tensions over the US missile defence plans and warnings by Moscow that it will be forced to counter them militarily.

Russia flies back into Cuban controversy

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US general warns Russia on nuclear bombers in Cuba
23 July 2008 WASHINGTON : Russia would cross "a red line for the United States of America" if it were to base nuclear capable bombers in Cuba, a top US air force officer warned on Tuesday.

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"If they did I think we should stand strong and indicate that is something that crosses a threshold, crosses a red line for the United States of America," said General Norton Schwartz, nominated to be the air force's chief of staff. He was referring to a Russian news report that said the military is thinking of flying long-range bombers to Cuba on a regular basis.

It was unclear from the report whether that would involve permanent basing of nuclear bombers in Cuba, or just use of the island as a refuelling stop. In his confirmation hearing to become the air force's chief of staff, Schwartz was asked what he would recommend if Russia were to base nuclear capable bombers in Cuba.

"I would certainly offer the best military advice that we engage the Russians not to pursue that approach," he said. The newspaper Iszvestia on Monday cited an unnamed senior Russian air force official in Moscow as saying that Russia may start regular flights by long-range bombers to Cuba in response to US plans to install a missile defence system in eastern Europe.

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waltky · 08-11-2008, 01:54 AM

Cold War heatin' back up...

Cold War heats up again as U.S. and Russia duke it out at the U.N.
August 11th, 2008 - The temperature at the United Nations Security Council hasn’t been this high in years — and it’s not because the U.N. management raised the thermostat slightly to cut electricity costs. It’s due to the heated exchange of insults and accusations between Russia and the United States, which has reached a fever pitch reminiscent of the Cold War years.

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U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad accused Russia on Sunday of using the Georgian incursion into Georgia’s breakaway enclave of South Ossetia as an excuse for a massive military campaign against its tiny pro-Western neighbor whose ultimate goal is “regime change” in Tbilisi. He also assailed Moscow for waging a “campaign of terror” against the civilian population of Georgia, a former Soviet republic. Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin shot back that regime change is an “American invention” and suggested it was hypocritical of Washington to talk about attacks on civilians in light of what it has done in Iraq, Afghanistan and Serbia. Churkin said Russia is only trying to defend its “peacekeepers” and protect the civilians from Georgian “ethnic cleansing” and “genocide”.

There’s a subtext to this dispute and it isn’t just the U.S. and European support for Kosovo’s independence, a former breakaway region of Serbia that seceded in February. Serbia and its ally Russia were both enraged by what they saw as an unjustified tearing away of a large chunk of Serbian territory in violation of international law. (Of course, the Georgian separatists in South Ossetia and Abkhazia — another Georgian breakaway region — took notice.) Tensions between Russia and the United States have been simmering for a while.

When the United States announced it was planning to build a missile shield in Poland and the Czech Republic several years ago, then President Vladimir Putin was outraged. He dismissed U.S. statements that the shield was to guard against Iran, not Russia. In February 2007 at a security conference in Munich, Germany, Putin accused the United States of trying to create a “unipolar” world with Washington as its “one single master”. He made clear that Russia would not stand idly by while Washington tried to subjugate the planet. U.S. officials were taken aback at the force of Putin’s speech, which some said sounded like a declaration of a new Cold War.

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