MISSILE defence talks between Russian and NATO military officials in the past 10 days have reached another impasse, Deputy Defence Minister Anatoly Antonov said on Wednesday.
‘We have been discussing the missile defence issue for the past 10 days . . . however, no solution for this problem is yet in sight,’ Antonov told reporters in Moscow after talks with German Defence Minister Thomas de Maiziere, Italian defence officials and US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel.
Antonov said Russia is closely monitoring the progress of NATO’s global missile defence system in Europe and in the Asia-Pacific region while studying how the system’s readiness could affect Russia’s nuclear deterrence potential.
He also downplayed the impact on missile defence talks of the recent standoff between Moscow and Washington over fugitive US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden.
‘I don’t have a feeling that the Snowden problem affects the missile defence talks as Russian and Pentagon officials focus on the military-technical aspects of the issues discussed, rather than on politics, when they meet,’ Antonov said.
Russia and NATO had initially agreed at the Lisbon summit in November 2010 to cooperate over the US-proposed missile defence system in Eastern Europe.
But subsequent talks between Russia and the alliance have floundered over NATO’s refusal to grant Russia legal guarantees that the system would not be deployed against Russia’s nuclear deterrent.
NATO and the United States insist that the shield is intended to defend NATO member states against missiles from emerging threat nations like North Korea and Iran, and would not be directed at Russia.
The alliance has vowed to continue developing and deploying its missile defence programme, regardless of the status of missile defence cooperation with Russia.
In mid-March, the US announced it was modifying its planned missile defence deployment in Poland, dropping plans to station SM-3 IIB interceptor missiles in the country by 2022.
Russian officials said this did nothing to allay their concerns, and reiterated their demand for legally binding agreements guaranteeing Russia’s strategic nuclear forces would not be targeted.
l The intended pullout of the NATO-led forces from Afghanistan starting in 2014 is ‘too hasty’, Russia’s Deputy Defence Minister said on Wednesday, adding that Russia will reinforce its military bases in Central Asia ahead of the withdrawal.
The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), which has been fighting the Taliban movement in Afghanistan since 2001, is expected to withdraw from the war-torn country by the end of 2014, handing over responsibility for security in Afghanistan to local police and military forces.
ISAF ‘has been too hasty about making the final decision to pull out in 2014,’ Deputy Defence Minister Anatoly Antonov said, adding that Afghan ‘domestic security forces capable of countering radical elements have not yet been created’.
Antonov said Moscow is ‘doing very much to strengthen our contingents’ in the former Soviet republics of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan ahead of the pullout.
Some 7,000 Russian troops are stationed at three military bases in Tajikistan, whose border with Afghanistan stretches 1,200 kilometres (750 miles). Collectively known as the 201st military base, it is Russia’s largest military contingent deployed abroad.
Kyrgyzstan hosts a Russian airbase with about 700 servicemen outside the Central Asian nation’s capital, Bishkek.
The Kant airbase serves the interests of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation – a Moscow-led security bloc.
The bases are seen by Moscow as a bulwark against the threat of Islamist militancy and drug-trafficking in Central Asia.
In May, Russia’s military intelligence agency, the GRU, said it expects the influence of the radical Islamist Taliban to grow in Afghanistan after international coalition forces are pulled out.
GRU head Lt. Gen. Igor Sergun said the situation in Afghanistan poses a ‘serious challenge to international stability’ and the ISAF withdrawal could also increase the threat of terrorism and religious extremism.
US national security analysts have also expressed skepticism that Afghan forces will be capable of ensuring stability in the country, saying they have garnered little trust among the local population and do not have the resources and training in ancillary aspects of combat, such as logistics and medical care.
Anti-government forces pose an increasing threat to Afghan children, women and men, the United Nations said in late July.
It registered a 23 per cent increase in civilian deaths in the first six months of 2013 compared to the same period in 2012, mostly due to ‘anti-government elements’.
The United States currently has 66,000 troops in Afghanistan.
• Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev stressed at an extended meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Baku on Tuesday that the positions of Baku and Moscow coincide on all major issues.
‘We are attaching great importance to this visit, and exchanged views on a large number of issues of mutual interest at the meeting today.
‘The agenda of our relations is rich, our cooperation is multi-dimensional and diverse.
‘It covers practically all spheres: the economic interaction, humanitarian sphere, transport and regional security.
‘We have similar positions on all issues,’ Ilham Aliyev stressed.
The Azerbaijani president also noted the importance of the Russian president’s visit to Baku as an extra opportunity to discuss the development of bilateral ties and regional politics.
‘I am very glad that you are accompanied by a large delegation.
‘The composition of the delegation speaks in itself about the directions to which we are attaching great importance,’ Aliyev noted.
The Azerbaijani president expressed the hope that his Russian counterpart’s visit to Baku will serve for the further development of the friendly ties between Azerbaijan and Russia in all directions and ‘will bring our countries and people closer’.
The military-technical cooperation between Russia and Azerbaijan is actively developing and has a tendency towards growth, Aliyev said.
‘Reports published in media from time to time on the volume of the military-technical cooperation do not always correspond to reality.
‘Today, the volume of the military-technical cooperation between Russia and Azerbaijan stands at 4bn dollars and has a tendency towards growth,’ Aliyev said.
The president expressed confidence that ‘the cooperation will further continue’.
‘Azerbaijan is already among the leading countries that procures Russian military hardware rightfully considered to be one of the best in the world,’ Aliyev added.
l Work has started to build the latest of Russia’s Voronezh-M radar stations for early warning of missile attack at Orsk in Orenburg Region.
Voronezh-M radars are largely prefabricated and need only to be assembled on site, so the process needs just 18 months instead of up to nine years as was the case with the preceding type of radar.
There are four already deployed, the spokesman continued.
Two in Krasnodar Territory and Leningrad Region are in service while two in Kaliningrad and Irkutsk Regions are running in test mode.
In addition to Orsk, Voronezh-M radars are also under construction in Krasnoyarsk and Altay Territories.
Russia has announced its position on missile defence several times and it has long been known, the Russian president’s aide Yuriy Ushakov has said.
‘I think our position on missile defence, taking into account the US Administration’s new steps, has been announced several times. Everything is known more or less,’ Ushakov said.
He was commenting on the US side’s statement that Russia had not yet responded to the USA’s proposal on missile defence.
Ushakov said it is impossible to drive the Russian-US relations into an impasse irrespective of whether US President Barack Obama comes to Moscow or not.
‘Whether Obama comes (to Moscow) or not – the relations are so important that it is impossible to drive them into an impasse,’ Ushakov said.
He stressed that it could not be said that there was a pause in the relations because in reality contacts continued.
Ushakov said: ‘It is better simply to look at the reality.
‘And the reality is such that contacts continue, Obama will come to the G20 (summit in St Petersburg), ministers communicate, practical work goes on between departments.’