Nuland: Russia Missile Plan Has 'Rattling Effect," Reality Less Dramatic
A senior U.S. State Department official on June 18 played down an announcement by Russia that it will add tens of new intercontinental ballistic missiles to its nuclear arsenal.
Victoria Nuland, U.S. assistant secretary of state for European affairs, told reporters on a visit to the Czech capital, Prague, "Those kinds of announcements when made publicly like that obviously have a rattling effect."
"When we look at what is actually happening inside Russia, it is far less dramatic," she said, commenting on Russian President Vladimir Putin's announcement of the plan on June 16.
Putin said June 16 that Russia would add more than 40 new intercontinental ballistic missiles to its nuclear arsenal this year.
But on June 17, the Kremlin said Russia does not want to enter a costly new arms race with the West, saying it would hurt the country’s economy.
"We are against any arms race because it naturally weakens our economic capabilities,” presidential aide Yury Ushakov said on June 17. “In principle we are against it."
Based on reporting by Reuters and AP
NATO mulling plans to position equipment on eastern flank
Zagan, Poland (dpa) -- NATO defence ministers are due next week to consider positioning military equipment along the bloc's eastern lank, alliance chief Jens Stoltenberg said Thursday, following reports that the United States is preparing to move heavy weapons to the region.
Stoltenberg was speaking at a large-scale exercise in Poland aimed at readying troops for a potential threat from Russia.
NATO is bolstering its presence in Eastern Europe to deter potential aggressors and reassure its allies in response to events in Ukraine, where Russia has been condemned for annexing Crimea and allegedly supporting pro-Moscow separatists.
Last week, the New York Times reported that the United States is preparing to move battle tanks, infantry fighting vehicles and other heavy weapons into Baltic and Eastern European countries as a deterrent to possible Russian aggression.
Moscow, in turn, accused NATO of dragging the country into a new arms race and announced plans on Tuesday to increase its nuclear arsenal with new ballistic missiles.
"No decision has been taken [on the pre-positioning of equipment]," Stoltenberg said Thursday, adding, "It is going to be addressed next week at a defence ministers' meeting."
Polish Defence Minister Tomasz Siemoniak said he had discussed the issue with his US counterpart Ashton Carter during a visit to Washington last month.
"We were talking about equipment that is sufficient for one brigade, and it will be pre-positioned in five member states," Siemoniak said, adding that he expects Washington to make a decision "over the next few weeks."
German Defence Minister Ursula Von der Leyen gave her support to the US plan, calling it an "appropriate, defensive measure."
"For many years we have profited, during 60 years of NATO, from the fact that the Americans protected us in Germany too," said Von der Leyen, who was also visiting the NATO drill in Poland.
The 10-day exercise, codenamed Noble Jump, includes 2,100 troops from nine NATO countries. The rapid-response force was summoned to the western Polish town of Zagan and told to defend the region against aggressors from the fictitious country of Bothnia.
"The exercise was about NATO's reaction to hybrid threats," Siemoniak said. Moscow has been accused of non-traditional warfare techniques, relying on intelligence, propaganda and other non-conventional operations, during the Ukraine crisis.
The NATO exercise included enemy forces bearing no clear insignia, similar to the so-called "green men" that Moscow has been accused of deploying in Crimea and eastern Ukraine.
"I am impressed by what I have seen," Stoltenberg said of the exercise, which was the first deployment of NATO's so-called spearhead force.
Putin's Ally Suggests Russian Leader Could Hold Early Vote
Aleksei Kudrin, a longtime ally of Vladimir Putin, suggested on June 18 that the Russian president could order an early vote to win a mandate for much-needed economic reforms.
Russia's economy, hit by Western sanctions over Ukraine, and its own dependence on oil prices, has entered a recession, dropping 2.2 percent in the first quarter of the year.
Prominent economists have warned that unless Russia makes drastic reforms, it is doomed for stagnation.
Kudrin, Russia's finance minister from 2000-11, suggested at an investment conference June 18 in St. Petersburg that Putin could hold an early election in order to "win the mandate" for economic reforms.
Kudrin told the Associated Press news agency that he hadn't discussed the idea with Putin, whose current term expires in 2018.
Still, he insisted the move was necessary, because of a "dire need of serious measures to restore the economy."
"If you're not ready to conduct [structural reforms] before the reelection, which anyone hardly does, then you need to do it after the election and do the election early," Kudrin explained.
That concludes our live-blogging of the Ukraine crisis for Thursday, June 18. Check back here tomorrow morning for more of our continuing coverage. Thanks for reading.
Some info on the Ukrainian military's mobilization plans:
KYIV, June 19. (TASS) -- Ukrainian nationals liable for military service who have not served in the armed forces will fall under the new stage of mobilization in the country, Ukraine's Defense Ministry said on Facebook.
The General Staff said all those mobilized will undergo military training and will then be sent to military units and then to the area of Ukraine's military operation against its southeastern regions.
The ministry claimed that the opportunity to dodge the next stage of mobilization will be excluded 90 percent.
The sixth stage of mobilization in Ukraine, to be launched Friday, is to call up 50,000 people for 60 days.
Overall, the Ukrainian authorities plan to call into military service 100,000-150,000 people in 2015.
On March 25, President Petro Poroshenko signed a decree to increase the armed forces' strength to 250,000 people.
Dnepropetrovsk Region completes construction of fortifications on
border with Donbass
KIEV, June 19 (TASS) -- Ukraine's Dnepropetrovsk Region was the first
to complete the construction of fortification structures on the border with Donbass (the Donetsk and Lugansk regions), the region's head Valentin Reznichenko said Friday.
"I am grateful to all builders who: completed their work. The Dnepropetrovsk Region is a reliable shield of Ukraine," Ukrainian publication Segodnya quoted Reznichenko as saying.
The fortification structures 100 kilometers long consist of 27 facilities with strongholds and reinforcing obstacles, trenches and special entrenchments for hardware.
Ukrainian President Pyotr Poroshenko said March 9 that Ukraine is preparing a deeply layered defense system in the country's east.
The press center of the headquarters of Kiev's military operation against eastern regions specified that there are plans to create two defensive lines "to prevent the enemy from penetrating Ukrainian territory."
"The bulk of work is some 1,500 kilometers of trenches, over 8,000 entrenchments for hardware, more than 4,000 dugouts and the construction of a 60-kilometer passive obstacle," the punitive operation's headquarters said.
Poroshenko said the overall cost of construction of all defensive structures on the disengagement line in Donbass totals 1 billion hryvnias (about $47 million).
The Ukrainian president also said all fortifications should be built by mid-July. The heads of two regions of Ukraine were even reprimanded for failure to meet the delivery date. Donetsk Region Governor Alexander Kikhtenko lost his post after the reprimand.
NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg says Russia has given more than 1,000 pieces of military hardware to the separatists in eastern Ukraine.