Russian Information Agency Novosti
April 3, 2014
Pentagon Suspends Missile Shield Talks with Russia over Ukraine
MOSCOW: The Pentagon has halted all talks with Russia concerning its anti-missile defense shield in Europe over the Ukrainian crisis, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear and Missile Defense Policy Elaine Bunn said.
“Russia’s intervention in Ukraine in violation of international law led to the suspension of our military-to-military dialogues, including civilians, and we have subsequently not continued to engage Russia on the topic of missile defense,” Ms. Bunn said.
Washington has also declined to introduce any restrictions on anti-missile defense as proposed by Russia, the US deputy defense chief said.
Ms. Bunn also added that Moscow will not have command and control capabilities in the project.
Russia and NATO agreed to cooperate on the US-led ABM program in Europe at a Lisbon summit in 2010, but the dialog stalled after Washington refused to give Moscow guarantees that the project didn’t threaten Russian nuclear deterrence forces.
The Kremlin initially offered NATO to build a joint European missile defense system based on a sectoral principle. This scenario suggested that every partner would be responsible for a certain region, with Russia having control of the Baltic space. This plan was shot down citing Article 5 of the alliance’s collective security agreement.
The Ukrainian coup has soured Russia’s cooperation with the United States and NATO on many levels, including their joint anti-drug and helicopter maintenance programs in Afghanistan.
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Interfax
April 3, 2014
Ryabkov on U.S. plans to suspend missile defense cooperation with Russia: such cooperation does not exist
MOSCOW: Russia and the United States do not cooperate in missile defense issues because Washington refuses to provide Moscow with legally-binding guarantees that the U.S.-planned global missile defense shield will not be directed against Russia, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said.
“I need to say that cooperation does not exist in this sphere,” Ryabkov told Interfax on Thursday, when commenting on U.S. officials’ statements that such cooperation with Russia could be suspended.
“The American side is well aware of the fact that opportunities for such cooperation could emerge if Washington agreed to heed our demand to provide reliable and legally-binding guarantees that the global missile defense system being built by the U.S. together with its NATO allies and certain countries in the Asian region and the Middle East will not be directed against [Russia],” he said.
“Obviously, this way of putting this question is no longer relevant today because of the U.S. policy aimed at exacerbating bilateral relations with Russia,” Ryabkov said.
“Possibly, as time goes by, the American side will realize the absence of any alternative to such an approach, if certainly Washington’s policy is not totally dominated by the aspiration to secure the appearance of potential in the missile defense sphere that would start to devalue our strategic nuclear deterrence potential,” the high-ranking diplomat said.
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Interfax
April 3, 2014
U.S. suspends cooperation with Russia on number of peaceful nuclear projects
MOSCOW: The United States has suspended the cooperation with Russia on a number of peaceful nuclear projects, Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom said in a statement.
It namely concerns a number of technical meetings, in particular on scientific topics, and what the U.S. refers to as Russia’s actions in Ukraine.
“We consider this step to be wrong and contradicting the constructive spirit we had formed with the U.S. Department of Energy in the recent years. Nuclear energy is a very subtle and serious matter. A responsible and professional approach is needed here from all participants in international cooperation. Politicization is inappropriate here,” Rosatom statement said.
“Any attempts to add some unilateral restrictions in this sector will first affect the initiators of such steps,” the document said.
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Russian Information Agency Novosti
April 3, 2014
Freeze on Russia-NASA Space Cooperation to Have Global Backlash – Expert
MOSCOW: Washington’s decision to freeze cooperation between the NASA space agency and its Russian counterpart on a slew of joint projects will hurt global space partnership but won’t be the end of the Russian space program, Director of the Space Policy Institute Ivan Moiseyev told RIA Novosti Thursday.
NASA issued a statement saying it put most of its joint missions with Russia on hold indefinitely. The only exception is the “operational International Space Station activities,” the agency’s associate administrator Michael O’Brien said in a memo.
“The statement was way too harsh,” Ivan Moiseyev told RIA Novosti. He warned NASA that its move would have a “rather significant” impact on space exploration projects globally.
“Modern space science is a global phenomenon that benefits all countries,” Moiseyev noted. “It means that many large-scale projects require an international effort. A freeze on cooperation will spur a serious backlash against the international space program.”
The space pundit added that, despite being something that Russia would never want for space science, this freeze was unlikely to have any catastrophic repercussions for its industry. Russia will simply have to adjust its projects to the new reality, he explained.
Russia’s senior space official said earlier in an interview with RIA Novosti that Russia didn’t depend much on the United States, as far as space industry goes.
This comes as the United States, European Union and their allies continue to ratchet up diplomatic pressure on Russia following its re-unification with the Russian-majority Crimea peninsula, which was taken over by Ukraine after the Soviet fall.
Measures include sanctions against Russian and Crimean officials and businesses, who had their foreign assets seized.
In a recent development, NATO member states suspended cooperation with Moscow allegedly until Russia changed its stand on the Ukrainian crisis, prompting the Russian Foreign Office to accuse the allies of trying to manhandle the country into accepting their viewpoint.
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