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US, Russia to hold joint missile defense exercise
Moscow, June 17: Russia plans to host a joint missile defence exercise with the United States next year, a senior Russian military official said today.
Moscow, June 17: Russia plans to host a joint missile defence exercise with the United States next year, a senior Russian military official said today.
Col.-Gen. Yuri Baluyevsky, the first Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Russian armed forces, said the maneuvers are scheduled for early next year at an unspecified location in Russia, said a military news agency report
The exercise will involve computer simulation rather than firing actual weapons, Baluyevsky said. "The exercise will test the compatibility of the Russian and US missile defense systems and will also provide practice for solving administrative problems," he said. According to Baluyevsky, the maneuvers would deal with so-called theater missile defense, which is intended to fend off attacks by short-and medium-range missiles, and not intercontinental ballistic missiles. Russia proposed inviting Nato member nations to observe the exercise.
"By agreement with the United States, the exercise won't be tied to any particular situation or any particular region," Baluyevsky was quoted as saying. "Its participants will practice missile defence against a hypothetical enemy." Baluyevsky said that Russian experts were also considering a US proposal to hold a Russian-Nato command post missile defence exercise in the United States later next year.
Russia had strongly opposed US plans to build nationwide defences against ballistic missiles, but President Vladimir Putin reacted calmly to Washington's withdrawal last year from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty in order to deploy such a shield, saying the move was a mistake but not a threat to Russia.
Bureau Report
The exercise will involve computer simulation rather than firing actual weapons, Baluyevsky said. "The exercise will test the compatibility of the Russian and US missile defense systems and will also provide practice for solving administrative problems," he said. According to Baluyevsky, the maneuvers would deal with so-called theater missile defense, which is intended to fend off attacks by short-and medium-range missiles, and not intercontinental ballistic missiles. Russia proposed inviting Nato member nations to observe the exercise.
"By agreement with the United States, the exercise won't be tied to any particular situation or any particular region," Baluyevsky was quoted as saying. "Its participants will practice missile defence against a hypothetical enemy." Baluyevsky said that Russian experts were also considering a US proposal to hold a Russian-Nato command post missile defence exercise in the United States later next year.
Russia had strongly opposed US plans to build nationwide defences against ballistic missiles, but President Vladimir Putin reacted calmly to Washington's withdrawal last year from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty in order to deploy such a shield, saying the move was a mistake but not a threat to Russia.
Bureau Report