The US ambassador to Nato, Kay Bailey Hutchison, made a threat to "take out" Russian missiles that Washington believes are in breach of a Cold War arms control treaty. It is Americ'a's contention that Russia is in breach of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) agreement of 1987. This treaty banned a whole category of weapons: ground-launched medium-range missiles, capable of striking targets at distances between 500 and 5,500km (310-3,100 miles) and that Moscow has a new medium-range missile in its inventory - the Novator 9M729 - known to Nato as the SSC-8. This would enable Russia to launch a nuclear strike at Nato countries at very short notice.
Hutchison appeared to indicate that the US might consider military action if Russia's development of the system continued.
"At that point we would be looking at the capability to take out a (Russian) missile that could hit any of our countries," she said, adding counter-measures (by the US) would be to take out the missiles that are in development by Russia in violation of the treaty. "They are on notice."
But it is not exactly clear what she is saying. Is she threatening a pre-emptive strike out?
No comments:
Post a Comment