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China Confidential

Foreign Reporting and Analysis Since April 2005

Saturday, August 16, 2008

 

Russian General Threatens Nuclear Strike on Poland

If ever there was a time for intelligent, effective diplomacy, it is right now, while a most dangerous dynamic can seemingly still be controlled. US-Russian relations have deteriorated to an alarming degree. 

Instead of partnering with Russia after the Soviet crackup, the US sought to change the status quo by strengthening and expanding--instead of disbanding or phasing out--the Cold War creation, NATO. 

An oil-rich, resurgent Russia is now hitting back, and actually threatening a nuclear attack on a former Soviet satellite that is now a US ally. 

AP reports:

A top Russian general said Friday that Poland's agreement to accept a U.S. missile interceptor base exposes the ex-communist nation to attack, possibly by nuclear weapons, the Interfax news agency reported

The statement by Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn is the strongest threat that Russia has issued against the plans to put missile defense elements in former Soviet satellite nations.

Poland and the United States on Thursday signed a deal for Poland to accept a missile interceptor base as part of a system the United States says is aimed at blocking attacks by rogue nations. Moscow, however, feels it is aimed at Russia's missile force.

"Poland, by deploying (the system) is exposing itself to a strike — 100 percent," Nogovitsyn, the deputy chief of staff, was quoted as saying.

He added, in clear reference to the agreement, that Russia's military doctrine sanctions the use of nuclear weapons "against the allies of countries having nuclear weapons if they in some way help them." Nogovitsyn that would include elements of strategic deterrence systems, he said, according to Interfax.

At a news conference earlier Friday, Nogovitsyn had reiterated Russia's frequently stated warning that placing missile-defense elements in Poland and the Czech Republic would bring an unspecified military response. But his subsequent reported statement substantially stepped up a war of words.