Page 29 - RusRPTNov21

Putin brought the US decision to pull out of the ABM treaty as a key problem only last week while being interviewed by a US journalist during the Russian Energy Week, which Putin said set off an arms race between the US and Russia.
"The arms race is on the march, unfortunately. And it has started after the US withdrawal from the ABM Treaty," the Russian president said as cited by Tass. Putin said in 2003 he urged the US not to withdraw from the ABM Treaty.
"This is a fundamental thing, the cornerstone of global security. What is the ABM Treaty? This is not just protection, it is an attempt to gain strategic advantages by de-energizing the nuclear potential of a probable opponent, that is, ours," the Russian leader pointed out.
That was followed by the US lead “missile shield” in Europe to protect the EU from attacks by “rogue states” with North Korean long range missiles being named as one threat. However, missiles were then deployed in Romania and Poland just across the border from Russia’s western military district.
Military analysts have argued that Russia’s decision to take control of the Crimea was partly to ensure the western-leaning Ukraine would not fall under the influence of Nato and to secure the large naval and troop bases in Crimea that Russia has long rented from Ukraine that also secures the southern flank of the western military district, now threatened by Nato missiles in Romania and Poland. As bne IntelliNews has reported Russia has already been re-establishing itself in the Mediterranean after being almost entirely absent for two decades.
It was hoped that the Geneva summit could cap the gradual military escalation. Putin also announced last week that Russia’s new class of hypersonic missiles that can evade tradition anti-missile defences have just gone into service with Russia’s military and China also stunned the US intelligence community by testing a similar hypersonics missile that ciricled the globe once before homing in on its target.
Biden made the gesture by agreeing to renew the START III treaty during his first week in office, another key Cold War missile security agreement, and said from the outset that he was willing to discuss restarting some of the other agreements.
Now the relations have gone sour again. Moscow said that Nato’s decision to expel its diplomats from Nato earlier this month undermined hopes that relations with the US-led alliance could normalise.
"NATO is not interested in equitable dialogue and joint work," Lavrov said on October 18, announcing the closure of the Russian mission. "If that's the case, then we don't see the need to keep pretending that changes in the foreseeable future are possible."
German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said Russia no longer seemed willing to talk to the West.
29 RUSSIA Country Report November 2021 www.intellinews.com