Chief of the Joint Staff of the Armed Forces of Russia Gen. Col. Yury Baluevsky
Photo: Dmitry Azarov
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Russian Chief of Staff Comments on U.S. Missile Plans
Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Yury Baluevsky said at a briefing in Moscow that Russia's withdrawal from the Treaty on Conventional Forces is not an asymmetrical response to U.S. plans to install antiballistic missile defenses in Europe. “Anyone who thinks that Russia's positions on American antimissile defense and the Treaty on Conventional Forces are connected is mistaken,” he said.
“The NATO countries are frightened by the Russian president's announcement of the possibilities of reexamining the Treaty on Conventional Forces,” Baluevsky said. He added that he felt the West's intention of not acceding to the adapted treaty “back in 1999 at the Istanbul Conference.” However, “Russia has fully fulfilled its obligations on the withdrawal of forces from the territory of the Transcaucasus. There is no connected between the withdrawal of Russian troops from Georgia and Transdniestria and the ratification of that treaty by NATO countries.”
Baluevsky called the treaty the cornerstone of European security.
The military leader said that Russia response to the American creation of an antimissile system in Europe may be the installation of less costly systems. He estimated that the American plans would cost $15 billion by 2015. “Even the U.S. budget is limited,” he commented.
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