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Armed forces chief says Russia being pushed into arms race
Dec 7, 2011, 10:07 GMT
Moscow - Russia does not want a Cold War-style nuclear arms race with NATO but a planned European missile shield has left Moscow little choice but to strengthen its own defences, the chief of staff of the armed forces said Wednesday.
'Russia does not need an arms race but she is being pushed into one,' the official Itar-Tass news agency quoted General Nikolai Makarov as saying in a meeting with foreign military attaches.
'This idea of creating a missile shield (in Europe) without question can seriously, and quickly, worsen our relations (with NATO),' he said.
Russia has begun the deployment of new weapons systems to its western territory Kaliningrad so that, once a NATO missile shield is operational, the nuclear deterrent between the two sides remains balanced, according to Markrov.
Moscow has strongly objected to a defence system planned by NATO that would protect the alliance's member states from a possible missile strike from the Middle East.
NATO officials have said the network would not threaten Russia's nuclear deterrent force, while Russian officials have said the system would give Brussels the ability to destroy Russian missiles in Russian air space.
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