Putin Ratchets Up Cold War Rhetoric

Days after claiming that a new phase of the arms race was unfolding, Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned that his country may target its missiles at Ukraine if its neighbor joins the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and accepts the deployment of the US missile defense shield.
What was striking was that Putin made the comments in Moscow alongside Ukraine’s President Viktor Yushchenko after talks to patch up bilateral differences.
Putin has regularly condemned American plans to include Poland and the Czech Republic in its missile defense shield. Still, his latest threat marks a dangerous escalation. He simply shrugged off Yushchenko’s pleas that Ukraine’s move was not aimed against Russia.
Speaking at a news conference at the Kremlin, Putin said he had advised Ukraine not to join NATO. However, he admitted that he would be unable to interfere in any such move.
Putin has come a long way since his famous bonhomie with George W. Bush. A man whom the newly elected American president said he could do business with in all sincerity has ostensibly been embittered by Washington.
Essentially, Washington wants to build the shield to destroy incoming ballistic missiles potentially coming from North Korea and Iran. When Bush pulled his country out of the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty with the former Soviet Union to facilitate the construction of the shield, Putin went along.
The missile shield project has evolved over the years. Current plans envisage some interceptor missiles based in Poland and an associated radar built in the Czech Republic, both former Soviet satellite countries. Ukraine’s moves toward NATO have ostensibly raised Moscow’s sensitivities.
The sight of Putin and Yushchenko together was, at one level, quite remarkable. Moscow had campaigned heavily against Yushchenko during the presidential elections over three years ago. Putin’s overt support for Viktor Yanukovych did much to fuel the Orange Revolution of winter 2004-2005. Once the euphoria over the triumph of people power subsided, Moscow’s candidate Yanukovych trudged back to power.
Still, several sensitive issues continue to dog the bilateral partnership between Russia and its second largest partner in what used to be the Soviet Union. Yushchenko hopes to resolve outstanding issues with Russia with through dialogue, openness and trust. The two leaders had been meeting in urgent talks over one such issue, a gas dispute. In fact, they announced a deal to avoid disrupting supplies.
The missile threat has revived fears of another escalation in international tensions. In a televised speech to the Russian State Council last week, Putin said other countries were spending far more than Russia on new weapons. The content and tone was eerily reminiscent of the Cold War. Putin’s assertion that Russia would respond to the challenges by developing high-tech weaponry has only deepened growing anxieties. Russia and China, for their part, have proposed a new treaty to ban the use of weapons in space and the use or threat of force against satellites or other craft.
Putin has accepted an invitation to attend the forthcoming NATO summit in the Romanian capital, Bucharest, in April. That is strange considering that Putin will cease to be president then. Elections to choose his successor are scheduled for next month. Does this amount to an acceptance by the Atlantic alliance that Putin will continue to call the shots?