FortWorth38
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- Joined
- Jan 24, 2008
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Nuke threat puts US on notice
Quote
Nuke threat puts US on notice
February 14, 2008 12:00am
RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin has warned Ukraine he will aim nuclear missiles at it if the country joins NATO and accepts a US anti-missile shield on its territory.
Yesterday's warning was Mr Putin's strongest to date about Kiev's efforts to join the Western alliance, and is the latest attempt by Moscow to reclaim its superpower status.
Mr Putin's unexpected outburst followed what had apparently been four hours of civil talks with Ukrainian President
Viktor Yushchenko at the Kremlin.
The two leaders settled a row over Ukraine's gas bills, minutes before a Moscow-imposed deadline on Kiev to pay up or face supply cuts that could have had a knock-on effect in Western Europe.
But Mr Putin then warned that Ukraine's aspirations to join NATO would restrict its sovereignty.
Membership would "lead to real consequences - bases, the missile shield, which we believe has as its aim the neutralization of our nuclear missile capability, and which presents Russia with the need to take retaliatory measures".
Mr Putin added: "It's frightening not just to talk about, but even to think about, that in response to such deployment, the possibility of such deployments - and one can't theoretically exclude these deployments - that Russia will have to point its warheads at Ukrainian territory."
Mr Yushchenko responded by saying that Ukraine had the right to form its own foreign and defense policies, and noted that the Ukrainian constitution did not allow for foreign bases on its territory.
Also yesterday, the Pentagon played down a weekend incident in which a Russian bomber made a low-altitude pass over the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz near Japan.
The US Navy scrambled four F-18 fighters to escort away the Tupolev 95 - a propeller-driven strategic bomber.
While the Pentagon didn't consider the incident "provocative", it said it was weighing "the implications of this return to a Cold War mindset".
Quote
Nuke threat puts US on notice
February 14, 2008 12:00am
RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin has warned Ukraine he will aim nuclear missiles at it if the country joins NATO and accepts a US anti-missile shield on its territory.
Yesterday's warning was Mr Putin's strongest to date about Kiev's efforts to join the Western alliance, and is the latest attempt by Moscow to reclaim its superpower status.
Mr Putin's unexpected outburst followed what had apparently been four hours of civil talks with Ukrainian President
Viktor Yushchenko at the Kremlin.
The two leaders settled a row over Ukraine's gas bills, minutes before a Moscow-imposed deadline on Kiev to pay up or face supply cuts that could have had a knock-on effect in Western Europe.
But Mr Putin then warned that Ukraine's aspirations to join NATO would restrict its sovereignty.
Membership would "lead to real consequences - bases, the missile shield, which we believe has as its aim the neutralization of our nuclear missile capability, and which presents Russia with the need to take retaliatory measures".
Mr Putin added: "It's frightening not just to talk about, but even to think about, that in response to such deployment, the possibility of such deployments - and one can't theoretically exclude these deployments - that Russia will have to point its warheads at Ukrainian territory."
Mr Yushchenko responded by saying that Ukraine had the right to form its own foreign and defense policies, and noted that the Ukrainian constitution did not allow for foreign bases on its territory.
Also yesterday, the Pentagon played down a weekend incident in which a Russian bomber made a low-altitude pass over the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz near Japan.
The US Navy scrambled four F-18 fighters to escort away the Tupolev 95 - a propeller-driven strategic bomber.
While the Pentagon didn't consider the incident "provocative", it said it was weighing "the implications of this return to a Cold War mindset".
