With New Start, the last nuclear deal between Russia and the US to end, Moscow says it is ready for a more dangerous world.
Moscow is ready to retaliate if Washington places weapons on Greenland, a senior Russian official said.
Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Russia would take military measures if the US followed through on a proposal to deploy the Golden Dome missile defense program on the Arctic island.
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Ryabkov made the comments to reporters at the Russian embassy in China on Tuesday, Russian state news agency TASS reported. His words came two days before the deadline New START TreatyThe last remaining nuclear arms control treaty between Washington and Moscow.
“If (the Americans) choose to pump some weapons systems into the region or deploy some elements of their Golden Dome concept (in Greenland), there will be a situation that will require military and technical countermeasures, and our specialists will be ready to take them,” Rybkov said.
“There’s no doubt about it.”
After these comments by US President Donald Trump Comment last month Golden Dome – Washington’s proposed multi-layered missile defense program intended to be completed by the end of Trump’s term in 2029 – is being discussed “as it relates to Greenland”.
Trump said “Future contract frameworkOn the Arctic island, an autonomous region of Denmark, with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.
Trump has repeatedly expressed his desire to acquire the island on strategic national security grounds, despite strong objections from Denmark, Greenland and other European allies.
Last month, he threatened to impose escalating tariffs on countries opposed to his plans, putting transatlantic ties in jeopardy, before withdrawing the threat and pleading guilty. “frame” The agreement was reached during talks with NATO chiefs.
The nuclear deal is over
Ryabkov also addressed the upcoming expiration of the New START treaty, which is set to expire on Thursday without a last-minute understanding.
Moscow said it proposed keeping the deal’s limits for another year that remained on the table, but the US has yet to respond.
Rybkov said Moscow would no longer send any communications to Washington.
“We did all the necessary things in time, and they had enough time to think. Non-response is also a response,” he said.
In order to revive the strategic security dialogue between the two countries, the US must significantly change its foreign policy approach towards Moscow, he added.
“Significant reform is needed – a reform of America’s overall approach to relations with us,” Rybkov said.
However, the official insisted that Russia will not enter a new arms race after the end of the nuclear deal.
‘Dangerous’ moment: Kremlin
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov separately warned that the world is heading for a “dangerous” moment as the deal collapses.
“In just a few days, the world will be in a more dangerous situation than before,” Peskov said, adding that the world’s two major nuclear powers “will be left without a basic document limiting and controlling these arsenals”.
The New START treaty, signed by former US President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev in 2010, limits the number of strategic nuclear weapons the US and Russia can deploy.
It came into effect in February 2011 and was extended for five years in 2021 after former US President Joe Biden took office.
According to the agreement, Moscow and Washington committed to deploy more than 1,550 strategic nuclear weapons and up to 700 long-range missiles and bombers.
It imposes a deployment limit of 800 intercontinental ballistic missiles and allows each side to inspect up to 18 strategic nuclear weapons sites each year to ensure each side has not violated the treaty limits.