NATO will never invade Russia - McFaul

Source : http://m.rbth.co.uk

Former U.S. ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul has said NATO is not planning to invade Russia and there is no need for the Russian leadership to deploy S-400 air defense systems on its Western borders. "NATO will never invade Russia," he twitted on Sunday.

The former ambassador said the Russian leadership is groundlessly concerned about the deployment of NATO armaments near Russian borders. "Russians should also relax about NATO defensive weapons near Russian borders since Russia tells us no plan to invade NATO countries," McFaul wrote.

"Only a complete fool would invade Russia. Thankfully no fools running NATO countries," the diplomat noted.

Previously the Russian Defense Ministry announced new S-400 "Triumf" long-range surface-to-air missile (SAM) systems and "Pantsir-S" combined SAM and anti-aircraft artillery systems will enter service in the air defense divisions stationed in the Northwestern Federal District before the end of 2015.

"In all, more than 30 sets of modern SAM systems will enter service in the air defense divisions of the Western Military District (WMD) before the end of 2015 under the State Defense Order-2015 program," the WMD said in a press release.

US deploying 250 military vehicles 'incl. Abrams tanks' near Russian border

Source : http://www.strategic-culture.org

 

RT - Washington plans to station hardware, including tanks and armored vehicles, in a number of European countries, Defense Secretary Ash Carter announced on Tuesday. Nukes withdrawn in the 1980s will not return to Europe.

Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Romania will be hosting the new hardware, and it will be possible to move it around for exercises, Carter said as he stood with his Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian counterparts on a visit to Tallinn.

The hardware will include Abrams battle tanks, Bradley fighting vehicles and self-propelled howitzers."Their purpose is to enable richer training and more mobility to forces in Europe," Carter told a news conference.

However, his colleagues made it clear that putting more American hardware close to Russia's borders is a message to Moscow. "In global terms Russia is no match conventionally to US or to NATO, but here in our corner of the world, Putin believes that he enjoys regional superiority," Estonian Defense Minister Sven Mikser said, adding that his country is ready and willing to host the vehicles immediately.

Romanian lawmakers have also approved the construction of two new NATO centers in the country's capital in a unanimous vote on Tuesday.

US and NATO allies have repeatedly slammed Russia for what they call "aggression," accusing it of being involved in the war in Ukraine. NATO recently announced plans to bolster its rapid response force in Europe to 40,000.

Last week Russia's President Vladimir Putin said Moscow would respond to NATO encroaching on its territories "accordingly."

“If someone threatens our territories, it means that we will have to aim our armed forces accordingly at the territories from where the threat is coming. How else could it be? It is NATO that is approaching our borders, it’s not like we are moving anywhere,” he said at a media conference.

However, Putin added, at the moment he could "see nothing that might prompt us" to take retaliatory measures. Moscow "will analyze everything" and stay alert.

Douglas E. Lute, the US Ambassador to NATO, believes American heavy weapons in Europe are not going to violate the NATO-Russia Founding Act, because military hardware will “only” be stored in Europe to facilitate military training and make them more effective, while also cutting back on logistics spending, RIA Novosti reports.

Lute also said the hardware will be placed in Europe without crews. Personnel will be rotated in and out as needed.

Washington is not considering re-deployment of nuclear weapons to Europe. They used to be stationed there some 30 years ago, the US permanent representative to NATO stressed. Nevertheless, Russia's Defense Ministry is worried that conventional heavy weapons will cause an escalation.

“If America’s heavy arms, be it tanks, artillery systems or other heavy military hardware are deployed to Eastern Europe and the Baltic States, it will be the Pentagon’s and NATO’s most aggressive step since the end of the Cold War a quarter of a century ago,” General Yury Yakubov, a senior Defense Ministry official, was quoted by Interfax as saying last week.

US-Russia military lineup raises fears of war: Experts

Source : http://www.presstv.ir

The lineup of powerful military forces by the United States and Russia so close to each other has raised fears that a potential miscalculation could spark a major conflict between the two nuclear powers, according to a report.

The rhetoric and actions from Washington and Moscow have intensified in recent days amid the worst tensions since the Cold War, which both sides blame on each other.

"Given the tempo of Russian military operations over the last year," said Steven Pifer of the Washington-based Brookings Institution think tank and a former US ambassador to Ukraine, according to CNN.  "You have more interactions, more possibilities for things to go wrong."

The Pentagon has announced it is ready to store heavy military equipment in East Europe to counter “Russian aggression” in the wake of the crisis in Ukraine.

The US Navy is among those participating in a NATO landing exercise in Sweden and the US Air Force has declared it could be sending some of its most advanced warplanes to Europe.

The US has already sent B-2 and B-52 nuclear-capable bombers, F-15Cs and A-10 attack planes as well as Army and Navy assets to Europe for a show of force, according to CNN.

"I could easily see the day -- though I couldn't tell you the day exactly -- when the F-22, for example, rotates in is a possibility. I don't see why that couldn't happen in the future," Air Force Secretary Deborah James said this week, describing Russia as “the biggest threat” in the region.

In response, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that his country would add intercontinental ballistic missiles to its nuclear arsenal this year.

“More than 40 new intercontinental ballistic missiles, able to overcome even the most technically advanced anti-missile defense systems, will be added to the make-up of the nuclear arsenal this year,” Putin said on Tuesday.

“If someone threatens our territories, it means that we will have to aim our armed forces accordingly at the territories from where the threat is coming,” he added. "It is NATO that is coming to our borders, it's not like we are moving anywhere." 

Moreover, the number of flights by Russian strategic bombers over the US Air Defense Identification Zone doubled last year from their norm, according to the North American Aerospace Defense Command, known as NORAD.

In the latest provocative incident, Russian military aircraft had to be scrambled to ward off a US destroyer, USS Ross, in the Black Sea after it was found heading into Russia’s territorial waters late last month.

US officials and observers point to the Ukrainian conflict as the underlying issue for the increased tensions. 

Washington has so far bolstered the Ukrainian military through non-lethal aid and training. It has also imposed several rounds of sanctions on Russia in coordination with European partners.

US senators are pressing President Barack Obama to provide lethal aid to Ukraine.

Russia to bolster its forces in the west in response to Pentagon

Source: Pravda.Ru

Pentagon keeps provocating the Russian Federation as providing weaponry to its neighbouring countries.

The US has recently declared its aim to store arms in Estonia and Latvia, as well as other Eastern states.

Among the heavy weaponry to be supplied are tanks, Humvees, and Bradley Fighting Vehicles.

Such a move would be unprecedented, and is still subject to approval from Washington. A 1997 agreement with Russia currently prohibits the US from positioning these weapons and vehicles in Eastern Europe.

Russian General Yury Yakubov has since responded to the move "If US heavy hardware including tanks, artillery systems, or other fighting vehicles does appear in some Eastern European and Baltic countries, this would mark the Pentagon and NATO's most aggressive step since the Cold War time of the past century," and further added that "Russia won't have anything else to do but bolster its forces and resources on the Western strategic theater of operations."

Of course, The United States doesn't have a monopoly on hot-headed military brass, that are currently refueling Cold War tensions. Yakubov himself publicly identified the US as the most significant threat to Russia last year, and suggested that they prepare themselves to launch a preemptive nuclear strike against the US and NATO in the near future.

Russia: If US would stationing heavy weapons in Eastern Europe, we will be forced to appropriate countermeasures

Source : http://www.rtdeutsch.com

The supreme General of the Russian Armed Forces Yuri Jabukow has announced that, if the United States would, as announced stationing heavy weapons in Eastern Europe, Russia react appropriately and its military presence will continue to expand on the western border as well. There would be no binding obligations which would prohibit Russia to strengthen its own armed forces in the western part of the country.

Should the US heavy weapons, whether tanks, artillery systems or other military hardware embarrassed the Baltic states or Eastern Europe, this would be "the most aggressive step the Pentagon and NATO since the end of the Cold War before a quarter of a century," said Jabukow compared to Interfax.

The Russian Foreign Ministry warned the US and its European allies against "dangerous consequences" that would have an increase in the presence near the Russian border. It was hoped that the situation in Europe could be preserved in the direction of a new military confrontation before another slide, it said in a statement.

The stationing of heavy weapons along the eastern borders of NATO would violate crucial content of the basic treaty between Russia and NATO in 1997. There, the Western alliance had undertaken not to station substantial combat units permanently in Eastern European member states.

"In fact, many believe both in Washington and in European capitals that the so-called 'Russian threat' is nothing but a myth", it said in the statement. "It is common, such as the United States practiced this here to use propaganda to divert attention from their own responsibility for the unconstitutional coup in Ukraine and the misdeeds of the regime in Kiev, which is unwilling to end the fratricide in the Donbass. "

It is to be feared that the US military strategy in the "eastern" NATO completely lose touch with reality and the political interests of the European people, it is said in the statement of Defence on.

The comments came in response to an article in the New York Times on Saturday, which states:

"In an important step to prevent a possible Russian aggression in Europe, the Pentagon is determined to battle tanks, infantry fighting vehicles and other heavy weapons to station 5 for # 000 American soldiers in some of the Baltic and Eastern European countries."

January Oberg, director of the Transnational Association for Peace and Future Research, explained that those who would be responsible for such decisions, have simply no idea:

"I think what we see here, is conflict-illiteracy. He said that the people who decide such things - especially in the US, but also at NATO headquarters and in the foreign and defense ministries in Europe - no idea of ​​negotiation processes, conflict resolution, confidence-building and all other things, we have means of which had worked during the first Cold War. "