Posted on 02/12/2008 6:35:19 PM PST by Ivan the Terrible
Russia could aim nuclear missiles at Ukraine if the former Soviet republic joins NATO and accepts the deployment of anti-missile defenses on its territory, President Vladimir Putin said.
It was Putin's strongest warning to date against Kiev's efforts to join the Western alliance.
Speaking Tuesday at a news conference in Moscow after holding four hours of talks with Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko, Putin said that Ukraine's aspirations to join NATO would restrict its sovereignty.
"That of course is Ukraine's internal process ... and we don't have the right, and we won't, interfere in this process," Putin said. But "that raises the question for Russia of the need for retaliatory actions."
"It's frightening not just to talk about, but even to think about, that in response to such deployment, the possibility of such deployments — and one can't theoretically exclude these deployments — that Russia will have to point its warheads at Ukrainian territory," he said.
Yushchenko responded by saying that Ukraine has the right to form its own foreign and defense policies, and noted that the Ukrainian constitution does not allow for the deployment of foreign bases on its territory.
"You understand well that everything that Ukraine does in this direction is not in any way directed at any third country, including Russia," Yushchenko said.
Despite NATO's repeated reassurances, Russia has long been concerned about the Western military alliance's expansion into the former Soviet republics of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, as well as former Soviet bloc countries.
(Excerpt) Read more at iht.com ...
Well.... I had Russian nukes aimed at my hometown for decades, and I’m still here. (They may still be aimed there too).
Putin’s a gangster.
Putin, you thug. My contempt for you is unspeakable.
Ping
A lot of Americans, including myself, knew way back when that giving billions of dollars of aid to Russia after the USSR collapsed was a bad mistake. They took our help and built their country up to the point where it can threaten other nations again.
!
“I know he’s still a Soviet barbarian at heart, but he seems extremely paranoid.”
Putin is a murderer, but I think the main reason for his bluster is domestic politics. Of course if Hussein is elected, the Russians may decide it’s safe to take back the Baltic states. NATO would protest, but do nothing.
Then again, blowing smoke up one's arse can be fun.
Putin's got to understand geography. All good KGB were taught geography, right?
Oh, and Pooty Poot, I don't care about international air space and waters, you fly one of those Bears over a CBG again, and if I were Pres, I would put it in the drink. Dosvadonya, catch my drift?
5.56mm
Unfotunately, IslamaObama has a better chance at winning than either McInsane or Hillary. There is something in the air and he's riding it for all it's worth. America, seduced by political correctness, is in full suicide mode. Whatever this power is, it will take him to our nation's highest office. Remember, you heard it here first. Nobody likes Hillary or her adultery-addicted husband. McInsane is an angry, loose canon lacking any polish, he's also a petty man, who when debating Obama head-to-head will get stomped like a bug. Obama says nothing, but he does it remarkably effectively.
He’s the worst kind of gangster. A government gangster.
Putin must have a little penis. He’s soooo 1980s.
It’s bizarre that Putin needs to whip up jingoism pretty much all the time; never mind uselessly. Russia starts to look internally fragile if not downright paranoid.
This personality cult gets into your head, I think. Too much MSM reading and TV watching ;-)
Translation: "We are going to blackmail the hell out of you," Putin said.
Pooty is still at it...;0)
Indeed. It was written......thousands of years ago...to play out something along this vein.
Roger Dat...
I didn’t realize you were such a scholar of so many things, CM. : )
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