World no closer to Cold War-style nuclear standoff, Putin tells global media chiefs

Russia’s deployment of 40 additional nuclear ballistic missiles in response to the US military buildup in Europe doesn’t mean the world is at greater risk of a nuclear war, President Vladimir Putin told the heads of global news agencies.

A combination photo shows the Yars land-based mobile missile system and the Abrams tank.

The Russian head of state held a late-night meeting with top executives from 12 foreign news agencies on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. Most of the event was held behind closed doors and not recorded.

 

The extra deployment is necessary to protect Russia and is a response to a growing threat from the West, Putin explained as EFE, a Spanish news agency, later quoted him as saying. Pentagon is reportedly considering placing additional American heavy weapons, including artillery, in Europe. Washington says it is needed to protect its NATO allies from an aggressive Russia. 

“Russia is not an aggressor and does not favor increasing the level of tension… but is obliged to respond to Western actions targeting Moscow,” EFE cited Putin as saying, without using direct quotes. The meeting was apparently held under so-called Chatham House rules, where participants’ comments cannot be reported directly without their express permission. 

“The increase in belligerent rhetoric between Russia and the US does not mean the world is at greater risk of nuclear confrontation,” the agency added, summarizing the Russian leader’s response. 

Putin also commented on the seizures of Russian state property in European countries, intended to enforce a Hague court ruling to pay billions of dollars in damages to shareholders of the now-defunct oil giant Yukos. The Russian president said Russia cannot fail to react to the asset seizures, but would not elaborate, saying it was up to lawyers to come up with a solution. 

He added that the arbitration court’s decision to order Russia to pay $50 billion in compensation is based on the European Energy Charter, which Russia has not ratified. It makes the decision unlawful, because the court was acting beyond its jurisdiction, Putin said, according to EFE. 

Commenting on the recent G7 summit in Bavaria and the statement by Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper that Russia was not welcome in the group, Putin implied that Harper would act as instructed by Washington on this issue.

"I don't want to offend anyone, but if the United States says Russia should be returned to the G8, [Canada's] prime minister will change his opinion," Putin told The Canadian Press. 

Putin reiterated his calls for Western powers to pressure the government of Ukraine to stick to its obligations under February’s Minsk peace agreement, a ceasefire deal between Kiev and rebels in the east of the country, which appears to have completely broken down in the past few weeks. The Russian president also said that the government of Petro Poroshenko must stop the economic blockade of the rebels in the east, implement constitutional reform and call local elections in the Lugansk and Donetsk regions, AP reports. 

Putin denied allegations by Kiev and its foreign backers that Moscow is sending troops and weapons to eastern Ukraine. He said that once Kiev stops trying to solve the crisis by force, and the Ukrainian government returns to seeking a political resolution to the crisis, the rebels would no longer need to take up weapons to defend themselves. 

In response to other questions, Putin defended Russia’s right to host the FIFA 2018 World Cup, insisting that the country had won the right to host the event fairly. He said that people claiming that the selection was marred by corruption in FIFA should present the evidence of their allegations. 

Source: RT News

Putin says Russia beefing up nuclear arsenal, NATO denounces 'saber-rattling'

President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that Russia was concerned about an anti-missile defense system near its borders, after announcing that Russia would add more than 40 intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) to its nuclear arsenal this year.

"We will be forced to aim our armed forces ... at those territories from where the threat comes," Putin said.

Putin made his comments a day after Russian officials denounced a U.S. plan to station tanks and heavy weapons in NATO member states on Russia's border. Putin said it was the most aggressive act by Washington since the Cold War a generation ago.

ADVERTISING

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry expressed concern over Putin's missile announcement and said no one wanted to see backsliding "to a kind of a Cold War status."

Kerry told reporters at a news briefing that Putin's stance could be posturing but he added, "Nobody should hear that kind of announcement from a leader of a powerful country and not be concerned about what the implications are."

Tension has flared anew between Russia and Western powers over Moscow's role in the Ukraine crisis, in which pro-Russian separatist forces have seized a large part of the country's east after Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in early 2014.

The European Union and United States imposed economic sanctions on Russia. But Washington and Moscow are still bound by a 2010 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) that caps deployed strategic nuclear warheads at 1,550 each and limits the numbers of strategic nuclear missile launchers to 800 by 2018.

"More than 40 new intercontinental ballistic missiles able to overcome even the most technically advanced anti-missile defense systems will be added to the make-up of the nuclear arsenal this year," Putin, flanked by army officers, said in a speech at an arms fair west of Moscow.

ICBMs have a minimum range of more than 5,500 km (3,400 miles). Putin gave no more details of which missiles were being added to the nuclear arsenal.

Putin said later on Tuesday that Russia wanted Ukraine to repay the $3 billion bailout bond under former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych according to an agreed repayment schedule.

Putin said he thought the Minsk peace deal on Ukraine was balanced and fair and that if Russia did not agree with its contents it would not have signed it.
Source: Reuters 

Russia Official Says: We won’t be taking Mistral warships from France

Russia won’t try and get its ill-fated Mistral helicopter carriers from France, a Russian official has announced. Moscow and Paris are set to discuss damages to be paid by France for welching on the deal. 

BPC Mistral of French Navy.

“Russia won’t be taking them [the Mistral vessels]. That’s a fact. There’s just a single discussion underway at the moment – on the amount of money that should be returned to Russia,” Oleg Bochkarev, a deputy chairman of the Russian governmental Military-Industrial Commission, is cited as saying by RBC.

The negotiations have been “transferred into the commercial field” and “major efforts are being made today” for Russia to receive damages, Bochkarev told RIA Novosti.

France reportedly offered €748 million as compensation, but Russia turned down the proposal, calling it "laughable."

The official also said that Russia would build its own helicopter carriers, in place of the Mistral warships, which Paris refused to supply Moscow.

“We have such vessels planned, they’re on the drawing board,” Bochkarev stressed, adding that they will be of a different class to the French-built ships as “there’s no point copying the Mistrals.”

Russia and France signed a €1.12 billion contract to build two Mistral class amphibious ships in 2011.

Under the deal, Russia was supposed to receive the first of the two Mistral-class helicopter carriers, the Vladivostok, in October 2014 and the second, the Sevastopol, in 2015. But the mood in Paris went through a sea change.

In mid-2014, the French side postponed delivery indefinitely due to pressure from the US and the EU, which have imposed a set of sanctions against Moscow over the accession of Crimea and Russia’s alleged involvement in the Ukrainian crisis.

In late April, French President Francois Hollande acknowledged that Russia should get a refund if it doesn’t receive the Mistral ships.

Earlier this month, an article in the Le Point weekly magazine said the French government could end up having to pay “between €2 billion and €5 billion,” if it doesn’t fulfill its contractual obligations with Russia.

The French Navy repeatedly stated that it doesn’t need the Mistrals as they are built according to Russian standards.

Reports have emerged that the cheapest solution for France would be to scuttle the two newly-built ships as maintaining them costs an estimated €2 to €5 million every month.

Russia has right to send nuclear arms to Crimea: Official

A senior Russian official says his country reserves the right to deploy nuclear arms in the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, which joined the Russian Federation last year.

“I don’t know if there are any nuclear weapons there at the moment and I am not aware of such plans, but in principle Russia can do this,” RIA Novosti news agency quoted the head of Russian Foreign Ministry’s Department for Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Weapons Control, Mikhail Ulyanov, as saying on Wednesday.

Moscow is naturally entitled to put nuclear weapons “in any region on its territory if it deems it necessary,” he stressed.

In January, Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Russia Valery Gerasimov announced Moscow’s plan to reinforce its military presence on the Crimean Peninsula in 2015.

“In 2015, the Defense Ministry’s main efforts will focus on an increase of combat capabilities of the armed forces and increasing the military staff in accordance with military construction plans. Much attention will be given to the groupings in Crimea, Kaliningrad and the Arctic,” he said.

NATO military expansion

The comments came as NATO plans to expand its military presence in Eastern Europe amid the crisis in Ukraine.

The Western military alliance has held numerous war games over the past year. In 2014, NATO forces held some 200 military exercises, with the alliance’s General Secretary Jens Stoltenberg having promised that such drills would continue.

NATO launched a multinational naval drill in the Black Sea near the Crimean Peninsula on Tuesday. The war games involved NATO naval rapid reaction forces and saw the participation of the USS Vicksburg, a US guided missile cruiser, as well as vessels from six other participating states – Canada, Germany, Italy, Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey.

Moscow has repeatedly condemned NATO’s exercises and military buildup toward its borders.

The Moscow-West relations sharply cooled after the Crimea joined Russia following a referendum in March 2014. Relations were strained further after Ukraine launched military operations in mid-April 2014 to silence pro-Russia protests in the country’s mainly Russian-speaking regions of Donetsk and Lugansk in eastern Ukraine.

Ukraine Begins Artillery Withdrawal From Front-Lines

Ukrainian troops have towed artillery away from the front-line in the war-ravaged east, in a step that seems to augur well for a ceasefire agreement signed with Russia-backed rebels.

The military on Thursday showed reporters seven or eight guns being towed away from the front at the village of Paraskoviyvka north of the government stronghold of Artemivsk.

Earlier, Reuters journalists saw a larger convoy of 30-40 vehicles also towing guns away from the front on a highway.

However, the Ukrainian defence ministry said in a statement carried by Associated Press news agency that it reserved the right to revise its withdrawal plans in the event of attack by rebel forces, who control large swaths of the east bordering Russia.

Ukraine 'preparing' nation for a long war
"Today Ukraine has begun the withdrawal of 100-millimetre guns from the line of confrontation," the military said, saying the step would be monitored by the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).

A team of about 600 OSCE personnel is overseeing the implementation of the deal signed between Russia and Ukraine and brokered by France and Germany.

The intensity of fighting has declined notably in recent days, although the warring sides have continued to trade accusations of violations in the ceasefire that came into force on February 15.

The move was Kiev's most direct step to acknowledge that the ceasefire was finally holding a week after losing the strategic town of Debaltseve to rebels.

Rebels have been pulling back heavy weapons for two days, but Ukraine had until now held back from implementing the withdrawal, arguing that fighting had not yet ceased.

Since capturing Debaltseve, rebels have taken pains to emphasise that they now intend to abide by the peace deal to end the conflict that the UN says has claimed more than 5,000 lives since April last year.

The Ukrainian army reported no combat fatalities at the front for a second straight day on Thursday, the first time no troops have been killed since long before the truce was meant to take effect.

New sanctions

The withdrawal of artillery is "point two" of the peace agreement reached in the Belarus capital Minsk, so beginning it amounts to an acknowledgement that "point one" - the ceasefire itself - is being observed.

Western countries denounced the rebels and their presumed sponsor, Russian President Vladimir Putin, for advancing on Debaltseve despite the truce.

But they have since held out hope that the ceasefire will now hold, with the rebels having achieved that objective.

In the days after its troops were driven from Debaltseve, Ukraine maintained that it believed the rebels were reinforcing for another advance, particularly expressing fear for the city of Mariupol, a port city of 500,000 people.

Western countries have threatened to impose new economic sanctions on Moscow if the rebels advance further into territory the Kremlin calls "New Russia".
Russia, which denies aiding its sympathisers in Ukraine, said on Thursday the threats of more sanctions were cover for Western efforts to undermine the truce.

US trying to punish Putin for what is happening in Crimea - former CIA analyst

The US is now trying to punish Putin for what is happening in Crimea, says Melvin Goodman, former CIA analyst and a senior fellow at the Center for International Policy in Washington DC and Adjunct Professor of International Security and Government at Johns Hopkins University. However, the situation is irreversible and Washington needs to change its approach to finding a solution to the crisis in the country to avoid its expansion. In his interview to the Voice of Russia Goodman said that there is a room for maneuver, although each side will need certain guarantees.

 

Photo: RIA Novosti

 

Goodman stressed that the US will have ultimately recognize Russia’s interests near its border.

He noted that the US has to emphasize that the current government is interim and there should be legitimate elections held.

Goodman also spoke about historical side of the Ukranian crisis, ways to solve it and its impact on the US-Russia relations pointing that the American-Russian relations have fallen to the lowest level since the end of the cold War and there will be a harsh set back.

Source: Voice of Russia

NATO aircraft to monitor Ukraine crisis

Alliance to deploy reconnaissance aircraft over Poland and Romania to monitor situation in neighbouring country. 

NATO aircraft to monitor Ukraine crisis

NATO has said it will start reconnaissance flights over Poland and Romania to monitor the situation in neighbouring Ukraine where Russian forces have taken control of Crimea.

The AWACS (Airborne Warning and Control System) flights will take place solely over NATO territory, the alliance said on Monday.

Ukraine is not a NATO member but Russia's intervention in Crimea has alarmed neighbouring countries, including alliance members that used to be dominated by the Soviet Union.

The announcement comes as the United States is sending a dozen F-16 fighter jets and 300 service personnel to Poland as part of a training exercise.

The US and Russia are bitterly divided over how to ease the crisis, with each challenging the other to show they are really interested in a peaceful outcome.

Russia denounced alleged lawlessness by far-right activists in eastern Ukraine on Monday, in a statement likely to trigger fear in Ukraine over possible Russian intervention.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said it was outraged by lawlessness in the country’s east, blaming the group Right Sector for "conniving" with the new government in Kiev.

Right Sector is a grouping of several far-right and nationalist factions who were actively involved in the uprising against Moscow-backed President Viktor Yanukovich.

The movement uses swastika signs, is blamed for various attacks, and according to its leader Dmitro Yarosh, has “enough weapons to defend all of Ukraine”. 

 
Its activists were among the most radical and confrontational of the demonstrators in the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, and organised “self-defence” brigades for the protest camp.

Witnesses in eastern Ukraine told Reuters news agency that tensions had been fuelled by pro-Russian activists to provide Russian President Vladimir Putin with a justification for invading Ukraine to protect Russians. 

NATO Force

Pro-Russia sentiment is at a high and there are fears Russia could seek to incorporate that area as well.

Violence against Russians

A referendum has been called in Crimea for March 16 on whether the region should split off and seek to become part of Russia.

Russia has criticised the West for being silent over violence and detentions taking place against Russians, highlighting the attack on a pro-Moscow demonstrators in the eastern city of Kharkiv on March 8 and the detention of Russian journalists.

"The shamefaced silence of our Western partners, human rights organisations and foreign media is surprising. It raises the question, where is the notorious objectivity and commitment to democracy?" it said.

Ukraine's government and Western leaders have accused Russian officials and media of distorting the facts to portray the protesters who Yanukovich's rule as violent extremists.

On Wednesday, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk will be received in Washington by President Barack Obama.

Obama has warned that the March 16 vote in Crimea would violate international law. But on Sunday, Putin made it clear that he supports the referendum, in phone calls with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and British Minister David Cameron.

“The steps taken by the legitimate leadership of Crimea are based on the norms of international law and aim to ensure the legal interests of the population of the peninsula,” said Putin, according to the Kremlin.

Putin has refused to have any dealings with the new Ukrainian leaders who replaced fugitive pro-Kremlin Yanukovich.