A senior Russian official said Moscow is ready to respond with military measures if the United States follows through on its plan to deploy its Golden Dome missile defense program to Greenland.
Sergei Ryabkov, Russia’s deputy foreign minister, made the comments on Feb. 3 during a visit to China, according to Russian state news agencies. His comments came ahead of the expiration on Feb. 5 of the last remaining bilateral nuclear arms control pact between Washington and Moscow, known as the New START treaty.
“This is a new moment, a new reality − we are ready for it,” Ryabkov said in Beijing. He didn’t elaborate on what type of military response Russia might be considering to the U.S.’s missile defense plan for the Arctic island − an autonomous Danish territory − as New START expires, though he appeared to rule out an arms race.
“I assure you, this is not going to happen,” he said.
Russia’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for clarification on the matter.
President Donald Trump said last month he had agreed on a “framework of a future deal” with NATO for Greenland and that this included talks about the missile defense program “as it pertains to Greenland.” That deal appears to have taken the immediate heat out of months of escalating tensions between Denmark, Greenland, its European allies, and Trump’s White House, which has vowed to gain control of the vast territory. However, few details about the agreement, which appears to have been made without Denmark’s involvement, have been publicly released.
Trump has said that more will be revealed about the deal as negotiations with Denmark and Greenland progress.
The New START treaty was signed during the Obama administration, in 2010, when Dmitry Medvedev was Russia’s president. The treaty sets limits on strategic nuclear weapons in the event of a nuclear war: 1,550 on each side.
Medvedev, now deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, told Russian state media on Feb. 2 that if the New START treaty expired with no replacement then the world should be “alarmed.” He said it would mean that the world’s largest nuclear powers had no limits on their nuclear arsenals for the first time since the early 1970s.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he’s willing to stick to the treaty’s limits for another year if Washington follows suit. Trump has not committed to that and said he wants a better New START treaty.
Some experts say that may not be easy to achieve.
“New START’s end brings few benefits and lots of risks to the United States, especially as Washington tries to stabilize relations with rivals like Russia and China,” said Jennifer Kavanagh, director of military analysis at Defense Priorities, a Washington, D.C., think tank. “An agreement with Russia is also likely a requirement to get China on board with nuclear arms control. Trump may be the ultimate dealmaker, but in this case, he would be better off hanging on to the agreement he has a little longer before trying to get a better one.”
The treaty’s imminent expiration is one of the reasons why the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists recently set its so-called Doomsday Clock at 85 seconds to midnight, the closest it has ever been to catastrophe.
In a statement announcing that decision, the Bulletin’s board noted that the White House’s plan to deploy a Golden Dome, a multilayered missile defense system that will include space-based interceptors, is “increasing the probability of conflict in space and likely fueling a new space-based arms race.”
The Trump administration envisions the Golden Dome project, which is inspired by Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system, as a defense shield consisting of space and ground technology that stretches across Greenland.
Russian officials have made what appear to be conflicting statements about Trump’s interest in Greenland. While Russia is opposed to the deployment of additional American military assets to the territory, it has also praised Trump for his initiative and been critical of Denmark and European leaders who oppose Greenland’s annexation.
In late January, an article in Rossiiskaya Gazeta, the Russian government’s official newspaper, asked whether diplomatic differences over Greenland would spell the end of NATO, which Moscow opposes. “Standing in the way of the U.S. president’s historic breakthrough is the stubbornness of Copenhagen and the mock solidarity of intransigent European countries, including so-called friends of America, Britain and France,” the paper said.