Russia rebuffs NATO over nuclear missile treaty

The Russian Foreign Ministry has sharply criticized NATO’s Secretary General for intervening in the row over the INF nuclear missile treaty, pointing out that NATO was not a signatory, but that the alliance’s member states could always join.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry has sharply criticized NATO’s Secretary General after he intervened in the row over the INF Treaty that banned certain ballistic and cruise missiles, pointing out that NATO was not a signatory to the treaty, but that the alliance’s member states could always join it.

Moscow’s rebuff came after a statement on Wednesday by NATO Secretary General perplexed Russian diplomats.

“The United States has briefed the North Atlantic Council on its determination that the Russian Federation is in violation of its obligations under the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty,” Rasmussen’s statement said.

Rasmussen stressed that the treaty “has a special place in history” and that Russia “should work constructively to resolve this critical treaty issue” and preserve its viability “by returning to full compliance in a verifiable manner.”

 “Continuing to uphold the treaty strengthens the security of all, including Russia,” Rasmussen said.

In reply, Russia’s Foreign Ministry “not without a bit of surprise” questioned why Rasmussen was commenting on a treaty NATO was not a party to.

"We hope that Secretary-General is not going to dispute the fact that this Treaty was signed in December 1987 between the USSR and the US, not between the USSR and NATO or Russia and NATO,” the ministry said in a statement.

If NATO’s chief is truly concerned with meeting the obligations this treaty imply, he should better “address a NATO member state that signed this treaty,” the ministry said, referring to the US.

Diplomats in Moscow pointed out that all major problems with implementation of the INF Treaty are primarily caused by the US, such as the launches of target missiles, development of armed UAVs, and deployment of Naval Mk-41 platforms capable of launching medium-range cruise missiles.

“We will pursue further elimination of the aforementioned concerns,” Russian diplomats said, calling on Rasmussen to help to make other NATO member states join the treaty to give it a truly multilateral status.

The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty signed by US President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in 1987 obliged the two sides “not to possess, produce, or flight-test a ground-launched cruise missile with a range capability of 500 to 5,500 kilometers, or to possess or produce launchers of such missiles,” Rasmussen said in his statement.

On Tuesday, US President Barack Obama accused Russia of violating the nuclear weapons reduction treaty.

The exchange of accusations between Moscow and Washington is taking place against the background of worsening bilateral relations, primarily over Ukraine.

The US and EU have introduced several stages of economic sanctions against Moscow, including those against whole sectors of the Russian economy.

Moscow have promised that the US will feel “tangible losses” from what it called “destructive, myopic” sanctions and expressed its disappointment with the EU’s inability to act independently from Washington in the international arena.

 
Source: Russia Today 31-07-2014

Russia Concerned by Reports of Kiev Using Ballistic Missiles in Eastern Ukraine

DUSHANBE, July 30 (RIA Novosti) – Moscow is concerned by reports that Ukraine’s government troops have used ballistic missiles against independence supporters in the country’s east, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Wednesday.

Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko Tuesday confirmed the country’s readiness to provide access to international experts to the crash site of the Malaysia Airlines passenger plane in Donetsk Region, declaring a unilateral ceasefire within a 20-kilometer (12-mile) radius.

“Now, unfortunately, actions suggest the opposite: Donetsk, Luhansk and other villages in these regions are being shelled with Grad rocket launchers, artillery and tanks.”

On Tuesday, citing US officials CNN reported that Ukraine’s government troops used short-range ballistic missiles in the east. The weapons have a range of about 50 miles and pack warheads of up to 1,000 pounds.
These missiles could have been fired from a Tochka short-range ballistic missile system (NATO Designation SS-21 Scarab), the report said. If the reports are accurate, these are “the most deadly missiles to date used in the conflict,” CNN said.

“All this is concerning, and everything is happening amid allegations that Russia and the militia are impeding inspectors’ access to the [Boeing] crash site,” Lavrov told a group of young Tajik diplomats.

The military governor of Luhansk, Serhiy Grachev, said earlier Tuesday eastern Ukrainian militia forces have found what appears to be a ballistic missile warhead in Luhansk Region.

A spokesman from Ukraine’s National Security information center, Andriy Lysenko, rejected the report, saying that Ukraine has no such missiles.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said Tuesday that the Kiev government intensified military operations against its own people after getting support from Western countries.

Moscow has described the ongoing military action as a punitive operation and has repeatedly called on Kiev to put an immediate end to the bloodshed.
 
Source: RIA Novosti 30-07-2014

Kiev forces fire ballistic missiles into E. Ukraine – CNN

In the past two days Kiev’s forces have launched several short-range ballistic missiles into areas in east Ukraine controlled by self-defense forces, CNN reports, citing US government sources.

The move “marks a major escalation” in the Ukrainian crisis, CNN said.

“Three US officials confirmed to me a short time ago that US intelligence over the last 48 hours has monitored the firing of several short-range ballistic missiles from territory controlled by Ukraine government forces into areas controlled by the pro-Russian separatists,” Barbara Starr, CNN’s Pentagon correspondent, said in a live report.

Short-range ballistic missiles can carry warheads of up to 1,000 pounds (450 kg) and are capable of killing dozens of people at a time, Starr said.

A Moscow correspondent for another American television network, ABC, tweeted Tuesday that the Kiev forces fired three ballistic missiles at self-defense forces near the town of Snezhnoe (Snizhne in Ukrainian) in the Donetsk Region. According to Kirit Radia, this is what a US official told ABC’s Pentagon digital journalist Luis Martinez.

Radia added that according to the official, it is likely that Ukrainian forces use such missiles since they do not want to risk their planes being shot down by sending them to the area.

The CNN gave no details regarding the exact missiles’ launch and impact point.

“In fact, the US is holding this information right now fairly tightly, officials say, because they are in an awkward position: these are, you know, the so-called ‘good guys’ firing ballistic missiles, Ukraine government forces,” Starr said on air.

So far, there has been no official reaction from Kiev and Moscow. The question now is how Washington – which has strongly backed the Kiev government – will comment on the revelations, CNN’s correspondent said.
Earlier this week, the US State Department released satellite images via email which it said act as “evidence” that Russia was firing rockets at Ukrainian troops across the border. Russia’s Defense Ministry stated in response that the “fake” images were created by American advisers “with close links to Ukraine’s Security Council.”

“Will we see the satellite imagery of the Ukrainians firing against the separatists? That may be a very tricky political question for the US intelligence community today,” CNN’s Starr said.

However, CNN’s correspondent in Donetsk, Nick Paton Walsh, said he had heard nothing of ballistic launches in the area and nothing of that kind has been openly discussed. He added, though, that it is no secret that both sides of the conflict were using “very heavy weaponry” against each other.

Russian military experts say that if the Ukrainian military did use ballistic missiles, most likely they would be Tochka-U (NATO Designation SS-21 Scarab).

Viktor Murakhovsky told RT that the military possibly used the missile against a fixed target, such as the militia’s staff headquarters.

“I’m talking about the Tochka-U tactical ballistic missile on a wheeled chassis, which the Ukrainian army has in its arsenal. It’s a Soviet-designed and produced missile. It may have a high-explosive fragmentation warhead or a disintegrating warhead,” Murakhovsky said.

Anatoly Tsyganok, the head of the Military Forecasting Center in Moscow, agreed that the Ukrainian army could have used the Tochka-U missile.

Source: Russia Today 29-07-2014

'Fake': Russian Defence Min rebuffs US sat image claims

Russia’s Defense Ministry has stated that “fake” satellite images of alleged shelling of Ukraine from Russian territory were created by US counselors “with close links to Ukraine’s Security Council.”

The authenticity of the images is impossible to prove, the ministry added.

The Defense Ministry stated that the images posted by the US ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt on his Twitter account, allegedly proving the shelling of Ukraine from Russian territory, are “fake,” ITAR-TASS reports.

“These materials were posted to Twitter not by accident, as their authenticity is impossible to prove – due to the absence of the attribution to the exact area, and an extremely low resolution. Let alone using them as ‘photographic evidence’,” Igor Konashenkov, the official representative of the ministry, stated.

“Pictures” like this, the general continued, “have also been provided by Kiev representatives as an excuse for the usage of heavy artillery and other weaponry by the Ukrainian army – against the country’s civilian population.”

“Last Friday, Ukrainian Defense Minister Valery Geletey again tried to add a sensational side to photo collages like this in the Ukrainian media – in vain. But on Sunday, the US ambassador to the Ukraine joined in, posting those satellite images on his Twitter page, which secured him the attention of the loyal Ukrainian media,” the Russian ministry said.

This scheme is called “an informational merry-go-round,” Konashenkov added, using an expression commonly uttered in Russia relating to feeding the information to the media.

“It’s no secret to anyone that fakes like this are made by a group of US counselors staying in the Kiev building of the Security Council, led by General Randy Kee,” he noted.

Source Russia Today 28-07-2014