Russian General Says Moscow Has Answer To US Missile Shield

[Ryan Ruck]

Russian General Says Moscow Has Answer To US Missile Shield

Russian Deputy Defence Minister General Alexei Moskovsky said Friday that his country had worked out a military solution to a proposed US missile defence system.

"Work is under way allowing us to counter US efforts to deploy a missile defence system," Moskovsky said, the Interfax news agency reported.

The deputy defence minister said he could not go into concrete details, but that Moscow had found, as he put it, "an asymmetrical answer" to any missile shield.

Moskovsky added the Russian hardware was "uncomplicated, but effective" and that it incorporated already-existing technologies.

What those technologies were or when such a system might be operational were not specified.

Recent talk in the United States about creating a pan-European missile defence shield has sounded alarm bells in Russia.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko last week said the installation of the so-called Global Missile Defence system would create "a new military-political situation" between NATO and the successor state to the Soviet foe it was created to defend against.

The US plans, as well as the dialogue the Caucasus republic of Georgia has begun with NATO have driven a wedge between Moscow and the military alliance in recent months.

The United States has been trying throughout the six years since President George W Bush came to power to create an effective system to detect and destroy incoming missiles. Since the summer, there has been talk of extending such a shield across Europe.

[American Patriot]

Let's just say that "asymetrical answer" is bringing small, fast, low flying tactical nukes and hitting cities under the radar. No problem.

[MinutemanCO]

In concept, there is very little defense for small tactical nukes, quietly placed by highly trained individuals throughout a target country's infrastructure. The highly porous borders would serve as a more-than-adequate conduit for transport. Most would call this unfounded paranoia. I try not to dwell on this possibility too much.