Russia Offered US Cooperation in Missile Defense But US Said “No”

Russia has, on at least two occasions in recent years, offered the US cooperation in a really international ballistic missile defense policy, but has been rebuffed both times by the Bush/Obama administrations. Alexander Grushko, Russia’s ambassador to NATO, told Rossiya-24 TV in an interview, that Washington is, instead, developing its global missile defense system to achieve military supremacy over Russia.

“Unfortunately, the chance to create a truly global missile defense system was wasted. This system would not have been based on a specific alliance, but would instead efficiently protect against real missile threats, not imaginary ones. NATO refused to pursue this, mostly on ideological grounds,” he said.

The recent missile defense exercise off Scotland shows that “the system which is currently under development is not meant to counter the so-called ‘nuclear threat from Iran,'” he noted. “Unfortunately, the US is actually developing its missile defense system in an attempt to gain military superiority over Russia.” Though Grushko apparently didn’t reference any examples of offers of cooperation directly, Russian President Vladimir Putin made such an offer to President George Bush during a summit meeting in Kennebunkport, Maine, in 2007, and some years later, Russia offered NATO the use of an anti-missile radar station in Azerbaijan. Both of these offers were echoes of the Reagan-LaRouche SDI proposal of cooperation of 1983, which at the time was rejected by British agent-of-influence Yuri Andropov.

At the end of last week, the Russian defense ministry held what it called a command-and-control exercise, which involved live fire missile launches from all three legs of its strategic nuclear triad as well as shorter-range systems. Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu announced, Monday, that the exercise was a success.

“As a whole, the results of the training showed the high combat readiness of the strategic nuclear forces and the complexes of long-distance precision weaponry,” he said.

For the US, Russia’s increased level of military activities is presenting something of a conundrum, particularly in the maritime domain. Should Obama’s Asia pivot continue as planned, or should the US put more ships into Europe?

“Their submarine force and their navy are as active as they have been in a long time, 20 years or so,” Chief of Naval Operations Admiral John Richardson told the Financial Times in an interview. “How are we going to posture our forces to make sure that we maintain the appropriate balance and are suitably engaged?” Richardson said the Navy was evaluating whether to boost its presence in Europe and the Pacific. “That’s the conversation we’re having right now.”