US-Russian Tensions Escalate Following Launch of US Missile Operations

Senior US and NATO officials attended a recent ceremony in Deveselu, Southern Romania, to commemorate the activation of a land-based missile defence station that forms part of a controversial European shield.

An estimated $800 million was spent on the site in Romania alone, where developments began three years prior. Aegis missiles are anticipated to become operational in 2018, and US officials state that the Aegis system is designed to protect NATO allies from short and medium-range missiles alike, particularly those directed from the Middle East. The defence system allows on-shore warships to shoot down enemy ballistic missiles while they are still in space. The interceptor missiles are fired to hit missiles before they re-enter the atmosphere, expectantly barring them to stop the possibility of damage.

However, Russia sees installing such shields in countries right on its doorstep as a security threat – a claim adamantly denied by NATO officials. Both NATO and US officials have attempted to reassure Russia that the shield in Romania, and a similar one in Poland, doesn’t undermine Russia’s strategic nuclear deterrent. Jens Stoltenberg, NATO’s Secretary General, stated that

“the interceptors are too few and located too far south or too close to Russia to be able to intercept Russian intercontinental ballistic missiles,” and were designed “instead to tackle the potential threat posed by short and medium- range attacks from outside the Euro-Atlantic area”.

US Defence Secretary Ash Carter has previously accused Russia of “nuclear sabre-rattling” and of being intent on eroding international order. Although he expressed regret over strained relations with Moscow, he insisted that the US must “prioritise deterrence” on Nato’s eastern flank.

“We do not seek to make Russia an enemy. But make no mistake, we will defend our allies, the rules-based international order, and the positive future it affords us.” He added, “Moscow’s nuclear sabre-rattling raises troubling questions about Russia’s leaders’ commitment to strategic stability, their respect for norms against the use of nuclear weapons, and whether they respect the profound caution that nuclear-age leaders showed with regard to brandishing nuclear weapons.”

US-Russian ties have been strained since Moscow’s annexation of Ukraine’s southern Crimea peninsula in 2014, and by recent military encounters in the Baltic Sea. Further, Mr Carter outlined plans to deploy a third US Army combat brigade in Europe in the coming year. He said it was part of a $3.4 billion initiative to reassure Nato allies of US commitment to their security and to deter Russian aggression. In response, Moscow maintains their accusations of NATO threatening Russia’s national security.

Mirroring this sentiment, a statement released by Russia’s foreign ministry argued that the United States’ activation of the European defense shield violated the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty signed in 1987.

“This decision is harmful and mistaken, because it is capable of upsetting strategic stability,” said Mikhail Ulyanov, head of the Russian foreign ministry’s department for proliferation and arms control issues.

However US officials argued that the Aegis system is a shield to protect Nato from long-range missiles, and is therefore not a threat to Russia. US and Nato officials further claim that Romania is hosting part of the system as it has been developed to track and intercept missiles fired from a “rogue” state.

Nonetheless, Mr Ulyanov said Russia’s interests “are being affected in a direct way by this” as the MK-41 launch system is capable of firing cruise missiles, not just air defence missiles.

“From our viewpoint this is a violation of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.”

Furthermore, Putin has escalated Russian criticism of a new US missile defence station in Romania, saying his country will “neutralise emerging threats”. He argued it was aimed at weakening Russia’s nuclear power and vowed to increase Russian defence spending. Speaking to Russian officials in Moscow, Putin expressed his concern that

“(it) is not a defence system. Rather a part of a US nuclear strategic potential. Now, as these elements of ballistic missile defence are deployed, we are forced to think how to neutralise the emerging threats to the Russian Federation.”

Aerial encounters between Russia and the US and its allies have escalated significantly, in the form of violations of national airspace, narrowly avoided mid-air collisions and close encounters at sea and simulated attack runs. Such encounters have raised fears of escalated confrontation, be it deliberate or accidental, between the world’s most formidable military powers.

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