The ceremony of opening the United States’ missile defense base in Deveselu, Romania, last week (Thursday, May 12), was greeted by a barrage of condemnation and criticism from Russian officials (see EDM, May 12). The next day, President Vladimir Putin turned these denouncements into state policy by defining this deployment of a radar station and SM-3 missile interceptors as a direct threat to Russia and promising to “curtail” it (Kremlin.ru, May 13). The completion of the “Aegis Ashore” project (started in 2013) as well as the beginning of the work on the second base in Poland came as no surprise, …read more
Source: The Jamestown Foundation