Putin: Russia could aim nukes at Ukraine

[Hail Columbia]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080212/ap_on_re_eu/russia_ukraine

MOSCOW - Russia could aim nuclear weapons at Ukraine if the former Soviet republic joins NATO and accepts the deployment of anti-missile defenses on its territory, President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday.

Putin spoke at a news conference in Moscow after four hours of talks with Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko, who has said joining the Western alliance is a priority for his country.

"That of course is Ukraine's internal process ... and we don't have the right, and we won't, interfere in this process," Putin said. But, he added, "that raises the question for Russia of the need for retaliatory actions."

"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," he said.

The warning was Putin's strongest to date about Kiev's efforts to join the Western alliance.

Yushchenko responded at the same news conference by saying Ukraine has the right to form its own foreign and defense policies, and noted that the Ukrainian constitution does not allow for the deployment of foreign bases on its territory.

"You understand well that everything that Ukraine does in this direction is not in any way directed at any third country, including Russia," Yushchenko said.

Last month, Yushchenko, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and Ukraine's parliament speaker signed a formal request asking NATO to consider Ukraine's bid for a Membership Action Plan at its meeting in Romania in early April.

The membership plan is a a crucial step on the road to joining the alliance.

The Kremlin announced Tuesday that Putin would attend the NATO meeting.

Russia has long been concerned about the Western military alliance's expansion into the former Soviet republics of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, as well as former Soviet bloc countries.

In Kiev, some politicians reacted strongly to Putin's threat.

"We are an independent state and will make our decisions regardless of what others say," said former Defense Minister Anatoly Grytsenko, who is a senior member of Yushchenko's party.

NATO membership is a highly controversial issue in Ukraine, where opinion polls show that more than half the country opposes it.

Also worrying Moscow are U.S. plans to deploy missile defense sites in Poland and the Czech Republic, calling them a threat to Russia's security. The U.S. has defended the plan as necessary to protect its European allies from possible attacks by Iran.

Putin has said Russia could aim missiles toward prospective missile defense sites and deploy missiles in the Baltic Sea region of Kaliningrad if Washington pushes ahead with its plans.

Russia's parliament last month voted to stop using Soviet-built military radars in Ukraine because of Kiev's bid to join NATO.

Well, maybe the Ukraine should have never signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, since at the time of independence, the Ukraine had the third-largest nuclear arsenal in the world.

[Ambiorix]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080212/ap_on_re_eu/russia_ukraine

MOSCOW - Russia could aim nuclear weapons at Ukraine if the former Soviet republic joins NATO and accepts the deployment of anti-missile defenses on its territory, President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday.

Putin spoke at a news conference in Moscow after four hours of talks with Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko, who has said joining the Western alliance is a priority for his country.

"That of course is Ukraine's internal process ... and we don't have the right, and we won't, interfere in this process," Putin said. But, he added, "that raises the question for Russia of the need for retaliatory actions."

"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," he said.

The warning was Putin's strongest to date about Kiev's efforts to join the Western alliance.

Yushchenko responded at the same news conference by saying Ukraine has the right to form its own foreign and defense policies, and noted that the Ukrainian constitution does not allow for the deployment of foreign bases on its territory.

"You understand well that everything that Ukraine does in this direction is not in any way directed at any third country, including Russia," Yushchenko said.

Last month, Yushchenko, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and Ukraine's parliament speaker signed a formal request asking NATO to consider Ukraine's bid for a Membership Action Plan at its meeting in Romania in early April.

The membership plan is a a crucial step on the road to joining the alliance.

The Kremlin announced Tuesday that Putin would attend the NATO meeting.

Russia has long been concerned about the Western military alliance's expansion into the former Soviet republics of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, as well as former Soviet bloc countries.

In Kiev, some politicians reacted strongly to Putin's threat.

"We are an independent state and will make our decisions regardless of what others say," said former Defense Minister Anatoly Grytsenko, who is a senior member of Yushchenko's party.

NATO membership is a highly controversial issue in Ukraine, where opinion polls show that more than half the country opposes it.

Also worrying Moscow are U.S. plans to deploy missile defense sites in Poland and the Czech Republic, calling them a threat to Russia's security. The U.S. has defended the plan as necessary to protect its European allies from possible attacks by Iran.

Putin has said Russia could aim missiles toward prospective missile defense sites and deploy missiles in the Baltic Sea region of Kaliningrad if Washington pushes ahead with its plans.

Russia's parliament last month voted to stop using Soviet-built military radars in Ukraine because of Kiev's bid to join NATO.

Well, maybe the Ukraine should have never signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, since at the time of independence, the Ukraine had the third-largest nuclear arsenal in the world.

If I am correct, all nuclear arsenal was returned, from the Soviet states to Russia.
I am sure , if Bella-russe or Ukraine joins NAZO, that will be seen by Russia as a serious provocation, if not a declaration of war.