The Russia Foreign Ministry has reacted to the new US Missile Defence Strategy, presented by Trump on Thursday. The policy, as the US president described it, “recognises that space is a new war-fighting domain with the Space Force leading the way”. “Contrary to the claims of the authors of the Review, the realisation of the plans and approaches it contains will in no way strengthen the security of either the United States or its allies and partners. Attempts to move along the marked path will have the opposite effect. They will deal another significant blow to international stability, which is already cracking at the seams as a result of Washington’s irresponsible actions. It is clear that no one will benefit from such a scenario,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
The mentioned document, the Missile Defence Review, was presented by US President Donald Trump yesterday. Among the regular accusations against North Korea, Iran, Russia and China, which “pose a threat” to Washington, it contains new points; namely, the recognition of space as a “new war-fighting domain” and demanding “burden sharing” from allies. Reacting to the document, Moscow warned the US side against “starting on a new, high-tech level unforgettable Reagan-era ‘star wars’ program”. “The provisions stipulating the development of the space segment of the US missile defence network are particularly alarming. Along with the improvement of space-based sensors, the Review actually gives the green light to the prospect of deploying missile defence systems in space designed to hit various types of missiles during the booster stage of the flight,” the ministry said in a commentary.
The Russian Foreign Ministry has called on the US to jointly search for ways to solve problems in the strategic sphere. “We urge the US Administration to show political will and, finally, to seriously pursue a joint search for ways to solve the accumulated problems in the “strategic” sphere while it’s not too late,” the ministry added. Moscow warned that the logic of the document might bring the world to the brink of collapse.
“It was precisely this logic that originally underlay a large-scale nuclear-missile arms race, which has more than once brought the world to the brink of disaster,” it said. In conclusion, Moscow has called Washington to resume a full-format dialogue. “We consider it necessary to emphasise that the appearance of such documents as the US Missile Defence Review once again demonstrates the need to immediately resume a full-format Russia-US dialogue on the whole range of issues related to arms control and strengthening international security and stability. We are ready for such a discussion,” the ministry said.
In the report, Russia was singled out as one of the countries that allegedly poses a missile threat to the US. As the document says, Moscow continues to expand and modernise its strategic offensive missile systems, including the development of advanced technologies. The review deemed Russia and China to be the only countries in the world capable of conducting a large-scale attack against the United States using ballistic missiles.
The US plans to destroy missiles prior to launch dangerous
The ministry has also touched upon the idea, voiced in the document, to neutralise offensive missile threats prior to launch means a preventive strike. “It is noteworthy that the United States ranked preventive destruction of missiles threatening it prior to launch among legitimate methods of missile defence… This… wording… means delivering preventive ‘disarming’ strikes on the territory of countries that the United States considers its adversaries,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
The review, in particular, says a comprehensive approach to missile defence “integrates offensive and defensive capabilities for deterrence, and includes active defence to intercept missiles in all phases of flight after launch, passive defence to mitigate the effects of missile attack, and attack operations during a conflict to neutralise offensive missile threats prior to launch.”