Putin Not 'Worried' About Heavy Weapons In Eastern Europe
Despite much bluster and a revival of Cold War rhetoric, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on June 16 that he is not especially worried about NATO's possible deployment of heavy weaponry in Eastern Europe.
Observers should not "blow anything out of proportion" with regard to the alleged threat from NATO, he told a news conference after meeting with the Finnish president.
"Of course, we will analyze everything, follow this carefully. So far, I don't see anything that would force us to worry especially," Putin said.
The Russian leader, who provoked a firestorm earlier in the day with his own announcement that he would boost Russia's nuclear arsenal by more than 40 intercontinental ballistic missiles, insisted that Russia is only interested in defending itself.
"It's NATO that is coming to our borders, and not us moving somewhere," he said.
"If someone puts some of our territories under threat, that means we will have to direct our armed forces and modern strike power at those territories, from where the threat emanates," he said.
Putin noted that Russia was most concerned about a long-running NATO project to build a missile-defense system in Europe. Moscow has repeatedly expressed opposition to that, and it apparently was that threat that provoked Putin's announcement on ICBMs.
Despite downplaying the threat from NATO moving some of its heavy weapons from Western Europe into Eastern Europe, Putin's ICBM statement provoked a sharp reaction and alarm in the West.
"Nobody wants to -- I think -- go back to a kind of Cold War status," said U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry.
"We're trying to move in the opposite direction," he said. "We have had enormous cooperation from the 1990s forward with respect to the structure of nuclear weapons in the former territories of the Soviet Union. And no one wants to see us step backwards."
Kerry said it's possible Putin could be posturing about the nuclear weapons.
"It's really hard to tell," he said. "But nobody should hear that kind of an announcement from the leader of a powerful country and not be concerned about the implications."
Meanwhile, the commander of the U.S. Army in Europe, Lieutenant General Frederick "Ben" Hodges, told TASS that no decision had been made about moving heavy equipment out of Germany into Poland or other eastern countries.
But he insisted that no new equipment would be involved -- it would only be a reshuffling of existing equipment and forces.
He said moving military units further east would not violate the peace treaty forged between the United States and Russia in 1997, because that treaty allowed the movement of forces not considered to be "substantial."
"One brigade per country was considered acceptable" at the time, he said. "And we are talking one brigade total that could potentially be spread out over eight countries. So to say that this is an erosion [of the peace accord] is, frankly, a ridiculous assertion."
With reporting by AFP, AP, Reuters, and TASS
New Ukraine Peace Talks Fail To Halt Escalating Clashes
Ukraine on June 16 reported the death of two servicemen as a fresh round of European-mediated talks with pro-Moscow rebels failed to break the deadlock over the future status of its separatist-controlled eastern regions.
Kyiv's military spokesman Andriy Lysenko said the two soldiers died when government forces came under heavy fire from 122-millimeter howitzers in the rebel-controlled province of Luhansk.
Meanwhile, a top rebel negotiator described the meeting in the Belarusian capital, Minsk, as too inconclusive to end the 14-month war and its current upsurge in violence.
Denis Pushilin told the media, "We have made certain positive steps, but unfortunately, this is not [the outcome] we had hoped for."
But he added that the sides had agreed to gather again in Minsk on June 23.
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed on to a February truce deal with his Ukrainian counterpart, Petro Poroshenko, in Minsk that was co-sponsored by the leaders of Germany and France.
On June 16, Putin said he thought the Minsk peace deal was "fair and balanced" and that if Russia did not agree with its contents it would not have signed it.
Putin also reiterated that Russia wanted Ukraine to repay the $3 billion it lent to Kyiv via a so-called "bailout bond" under ousted President Viktor Yanukovych.
Based on reporting by AFP and Reuters
We are now closing the live blog for today. Until we resume again tomorrow morning, you can keep up with all our Ukraine news coverage here.
Here's some reaction to Russia's announcement that it plans to beef up its stock of ICBMs (from RFE/RL's news desk):
NATO head Jens Stoltenberg warned on June 16 that a Russian plan to deploy 40 new nuclear ballistic missiles announced by President Vladimir Putin was part of a dangerous pattern of behavior by Moscow.
Stoltenberg, speaking after a meeting with European Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker in Brussels, said, "This nuclear saber-rattling by Russia is unjustified, destabilizing and it is dangerous."
Stoltenberg said Moscow's rhetoric explained the Western alliance's increased preparedness on the part of its forces to defend its members.
"We are responding by making sure that NATO also in the future is an alliance which provides the terms of protection of all allies against the enemy," he said.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, speaking separately in Washington, said he was concerned by Putin's announcement.
Following Stoltenberg's statement, Putin said that Russia would have to defend itself and direct its armed forces at any countries that might threaten it.
Earlier on June 16, Putin said the Russian military will add more than 40 new intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) to its arsenal this year capable of "penetrating" any current missile defense systems.
Putin said at the opening of the Army-2015 arms show in Moscow that the ICBMs are part of Russia's "large-scale armament- and defense-industry modernization program."
He said the military is also getting several other new weapons, including Armata tanks and new armored vehicles, several of which were on display during the military parade in Moscow's Red Square last month.
(Reuters, AFP)