Missile Defense: Russia threatens pre-emptive strikes

The words between Moscow and Washington are sharper. Now Russia has announced an unprecedented threat pronounced. The U.S. does not back off from plans to implement a missile defense system in Europe could be a preventive strike can not be excluded. Three weeks before the NATO Summit in Chicago that fueled the controversy considerably. Washington's plans are destabilizing and massively endangered the strategic security of Russia, said chief of staff Nikolai Makarov on Thursday at a meeting with defense officials of NATO countries in Moscow. Kremlin leader Dmitry Medvedev warned in a welcoming address to participants of a new arms race, should the United States to implement their existing plans. The head of the U.S. delegation, Ellen Tauscher, dismissed the criticism as "unconvincing" back. They called for further negotiations between Russia and NATO. "The talks are at an impasse," however, said Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov. "When will the U.S. and NATO consider it possible, while ensuring their own safety to leave the safety of their neighbors in mind, then we have no other choice than to take appropriate countermeasures," Makarov warned. He reiterated that Russia agree a joint missile defense with only one line status and was again threatened with the withdrawal from arms control treaties. NATO currently provides two separate, albeit closely integrated systems. Moscow's Security Council chief Nikolai Patrushev warned, according to the Interfax news agency that the U.S. project in six years Russia could intercept ballistic missiles. He again demanded written guarantees from the U.S. that the immune system is not directed against the greatest country on earth. Corrective steps are not only the deployment of Iskander missiles in Kaliningrad around the former Konigsberg on the Baltic Sea, but also their use for the destruction of components of the Western defense shield planned, Makarov emphasized. So far, Russia has threatened to deploy defensive systems, but not so open with their possible use. The threat of missiles from North Korea and Iran, which is directed against the U.S. project reportedly called Moscow's chief of staff "thought". The chief of international affairs, U.S. Department of Defense, Alexander Vershbow, has accused Russia to start with "false information". "We do not have the desire to undermine global strategic stability," he said in Moscow. The two-day conference brings together more than 200 participants from 50 countries.