Asia Pacific
10:55, 22-Feb-2019
Putin to U.S.: I'm ready for another Cuban Missile-style crisis if you want one
Updated
11:26, 22-Feb-2019
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Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russia is militarily ready for a Cuban Missile-style crisis if the U.S. wanted one and threatened to place hypersonic nuclear missiles on ships or submarines near U.S. territorial waters.
Putin's comments, made to Russian media late on Wednesday, follow his warning that Moscow will match any U.S. move to deploy new missiles closer to Russia by stationing its own missiles closer to the U.S. or by deploying faster missiles or both.
Putin detailed his warning for the first time, saying Russia could deploy hypersonic missiles on ships and submarines which could lurk outside U.S. territorial waters if Washington now moved to deploy intermediate-range nuclear weapons in Europe.
"(We're talking about) naval delivery vehicles: submarines or surface ships. And we can put them, given the speed and range (of our missiles)... in neutral waters. Plus they are not stationary, they move and they will have to find them," Putin said, according to a Kremlin transcript.
"You work it out: Mach nine (the speed of the missiles) and over 1,000 kilometers (their range)."
An Iskander-M guided missile system demonstrated along with the 9M729 and the 9Ì728 missile systems after a briefing for military attaches and international media by the Russian Defense Ministry at the Patriot Congress and Exhibition Center in Kubinka, near Moscow, January 23, 2019. /VCG Photo
An Iskander-M guided missile system demonstrated along with the 9M729 and the 9Ì728 missile systems after a briefing for military attaches and international media by the Russian Defense Ministry at the Patriot Congress and Exhibition Center in Kubinka, near Moscow, January 23, 2019. /VCG Photo
The U.S. State Department dismissed Putin's earlier warning as propaganda, saying it was designed to divert attention from what Washington alleges are Moscow's violations of the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty.
It referred queries about Putin's latest remarks to the Pentagon, which did not immediately respond.
The INF pact bans Russia and the U.S. from stationing short-and-intermediate-range land-based missiles in Europe. Washington announced on February 1 it will withdraw from the treaty in six months unless Moscow ends its alleged violations.
(Cover: Russian President Vladimir Putin during a meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow, February 20, 2019. /Reuters Photo)
Source(s): Reuters