generalspeaking

United States : Russia "On Notice"

"It is time now for Russia to come to the table and stop the violations."
"[If the 9M729 missile system] became capable of delivering] the U.S.] would then be looking at the capability to take out a missile that could hit any of our countries in Europe and hit America."
"Counter measures [by the U.S.] would be to take out the missiles that are in development by Russia in violation of the treaty. They are on notice."
"There will come a point in the future in which America will determine that it has to move forward with a development phase that is not allowed by the treaty right now."
U.S. Ambassador to NATO Kay Bailey Hutchison, Brussels

So there it is. It has taken awhile, but the American administration has finally mustered the required fortitude to state its intentions. Back in March, Russian President Vladimir Putin wasn't the least bit averse to doing the same himself. Tersely, implying threat directed to the United States, pulling the weight of a revitalized military for the Russian Federation. Back then, it was Russia blaming the U.S. for driving the Russian military to pull out all the stops to advance state-of-the-art military technology second to none in the world.



"I want to tell all those who have fueled the arms race over the last 15 years, sought to win unilateral advantages over Russia, introduced unlawful sanctions aimed to contain our country's development: All what you wanted to impede with your policies have already happened. You have failed to contain Russia. Now they need to take account of a new reality and understand that everything I have said today is not a bluff", said Vladimir Putin grimly and with obvious satisfaction.

The nuclear-powered cruise missile, tested last year has not only a "practically unlimited range" but advanced maneuverability and speed. The high-speed underwater drone has an "intercontinental" range capable of carrying a nuclear warhead, can operate at depths and speeds to outpace interceptors. "No one in the world has anything like that. It may appear someday, but by that time we will develop something new." The intercontinental hypersonic missile is capable of reaching targets at a speed 20 times that of sound to strike "like a fireball", he gloated.

Now, in essence, he has been called on his threat. But not for the first time. Back in 2014 the Obama administration raised its own concerns, at that point the missile had been in test stage, but still in violation of the INF. Now it has become a "fully operational unit". Intelligence evidence gathered by Washington has been shared with its 28 NATO allies. Grim news that the system could be launched in a nuclear strike at Europe, no notice given.


This is advance notice that the U.S. plans to respond to the "fully operational unit" of the Russian Federation itn violation of the INF by stating that Russia is forcing the issue giving the U.S. no choice but to forge on and develop its own missile in response at the risk of violating the treaty that both Washington and Moscow celebrated the 30th anniversary of, last year, presumably before the Kremlin's push for greater militancy took final root.

Labels: Crisis Management, Moscow, NATO, Nuclear Cruise Missile, Washington

posted by Pieface @ Thursday, October 04, 2018