Moscow threatens “military response” to US deployment of long-range weapons in Germany | International

The announcement that the United States will deploy long-range missiles on German soil in 2026 has generated an almost immediate reaction from Russia, which has threatened a “military response” and described the decision adopted by Washington and Berlin as an “escalation”. NATO countries led by the United States have strengthened their defenses in Europe in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, but…

The announcement that the United States will deploy long-range missiles on German soil in 2026 has generated an almost immediate reaction from Russia, which has threatened a “military response” and described the decision adopted by Washington and Berlin as an “escalation”. NATO countries, led by the United States, have strengthened their security in Europe in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, but the step taken by the two countries, announced on the sidelines of the NATO summit, represents a qualitative leap. For the first time since the Cold War, US weapons systems capable of reaching Russian territory will be deployed in Germany.

The German Chancellor, Social Democrat Olaf Scholz, praised President Joe Biden’s decision this Thursday as an important step to enhance security and deterrence and reminded that “Russia has an incredible accumulation of weapons that threaten the European region.” “It is time to guarantee peace in Europe,” Scholz said during the Atlantic Alliance meeting in Washington. Asked if he expected more internal resistance in his party to the arrival of long-range missiles, the Chancellor replied that this decision “had been prepared for a long time and it is not a surprise for those interested in security and peace policy.” The issue was addressed at the last Munich Security Conference in February, explaining: “We have been working for some time on ways to guarantee deterrence that secures our alliance.”

According to the US network CNN, Scholz’s words come after it learned that Russia plans to assassinate the CEO of German weapons manufacturer Rheinmetall, one of the main producers of artillery shells and military vehicles for Ukraine. The network cited five Western sources as saying that the plot to kill Armin Papperger is part of a wider plan to eliminate defense industry executives across Europe who support Ukraine’s war effort.

At a press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, outgoing NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg refrained from directly confirming the complaint, but stressed that “we have seen a pattern, a campaign of hostile efforts by the Russian secret services targeting NATO.”

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has given credibility to this news by ensuring that Russia is fighting a “war of hybrid aggression” with all kinds of fronts, such as sabotage and cyber attacks, and linked this to the Rheinmetall case. “We have seen that there have been attacks on people and on European territory. We have seen that there have been attacks on factories. And this underlines once again that we, as Europeans, must protect ourselves as much as possible and not be naïve,” she assured this Thursday.

Within the framework of the NATO summit that ends today in Washington, the United States announced late this Wednesday that it will begin deploying long-range missiles in Germany from 2026. These projectiles will include SM-6s, Tomahawks and hypersonic missiles that will represent the most powerful weapons installed on European soil since the end of the Cold War. The planned deployment begins more than a year after next November’s US presidential election, which means that a possible victory by Donald Trump could reverse it.

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Those capabilities “will have a significantly greater range than the ground-fired capabilities currently deployed on European soil. “Deploying these advanced capabilities will demonstrate the United States’ commitment to NATO and its contribution to Europe’s integrated deterrent capability,” the joint statement said. Tomahawk cruise missiles have a range of more than 2,000 kilometers. Moscow is about 1,600 kilometers from Berlin as the crow flies.

The move by Washington and Berlin has angered Moscow. “I hope this will not happen because, if it does, Russia’s reaction will be harsh and justified. This is unacceptable. If we look at all the post-war documents, Germany has no right to have this type of weapon,” said Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko.

Vladimir Dzhabarov, deputy chairman of the upper house’s foreign affairs committee, has urged the deployment of Russian missiles in Cuba, North Korea, Venezuela and Nicaragua. For his part, Russian ambassador to Germany Sergei Nechayev has warned that “these measures will require an appropriate response from Russia.”

However, Russian officials themselves have indicated that Moscow has already joined the arms race some time ago. “They (the United States and Germany) will waste their money,” Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said in a message released by his department. “Without panic and emotions, first of all, we will prepare a military response to this new threat,” the diplomat was quoted as saying by the RIA Novosti agency. “The work necessary to prepare a countermeasure by Russia began long ago and is being carried out systematically.”

Russia will deploy nuclear weapons in Belarus in mid-2023 and has suspended several agreements against the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. Last year, the Kremlin unilaterally cancelled the New START treaty with the United States for nuclear arms control and its parliament cancelled an agreement not to test with its arsenal.

Washington’s announcement and Moscow’s response are reminiscent of Cold War times, when both powers launched an arms buildup in the heart of Europe, provoking widespread protests in the then Federal Republic of Germany. The deployment of weapons continued until the signing of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty in 1987, which banned nuclear and conventional missiles with a range of between 500 and 5,500 kilometers. The treaty was in force until Washington (with Donald Trump as president) withdrew from it in 2019, alleging that Russia had repeatedly violated it.

Despite Moscow’s criticism, the Kremlin had already hinted at this new confrontation with the White House a few weeks earlier. “Russia will have to start producing short- and medium-range missiles in response to the actions of the United States,” President Vladimir Putin warned his security council on June 28. “We need to produce these attack systems in a timely manner, based on the real situation, and decide where to place them if necessary to guarantee our security,” the president added.

Washington and Berlin intend the planned missiles to cover European deficiencies until partners develop their own projectiles. In that sense, this Thursday Germany, France, Italy and Poland formally committed to the development of their own long-range missiles – more than 500 kilometers, which is the maximum range of the German Taurus – launched from the ground after the war with Russia in Ukraine has exposed the lack of this type of weapons in European arsenals.

According to French Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu at the signing ceremony of the MoU for the manufacture of the weapon, the four signatory countries expect to receive the first missile sketches by the end of this year, while other specifications will be decided upon.

Lecornu left open the possibility of involving other countries in the project, notably the United Kingdom of new Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer. “The idea is to open it up as much as possible,” he said. “It’s also worth it on a budgetary level, because it allows to defray various costs,” the minister added.

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