The United States on Thursday activated a missile defense shield aimed to protect Europe from ballistic missile threats despite warnings from Russia.
U.S. and NATO officials said the missile defense system, which is based in Romania and has been planned for years, will protect Europe from possible long-range threats from the Middle East, including Iran. Russia, however, has vehemently opposed the shield. The system's activation is likely to further strain relations between the West and Russia.
The Associated Press reported:
While the Kremlin doesn’t view the NATO missile defense system as a threat to its nuclear forces in its current limited shape, it fears that the U.S.-led missile shield may eventually erode the deterrent potential of Russian nuclear forces when it grows more powerful in the future. Russian officials have shrugged off the claim that the planned missile shield is intended to fend off missile threats from Iran, and President Vladimir Putin has pointed at the determination of the U.S. and NATO to pursue the project even after a nuclear deal with Iran as a proof that it’s aimed against Russia. Western officials deny that.
"We now have the capability to protect NATO in Europe," Robert Bell, a NATO-based envoy of Defense Secretary Ash Carter, told Reuters. "The Iranians are increasing their capabilities and we have to be ahead of that. The system is not aimed against Russia."
Russia’s foreign ministry reportedly accused the U.S. of violating a treaty on nuclear forces in a statement Wednesday, according to the BBC.
Officials from the United States, NATO, and Romania, including NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, marked the activation of the missile shield at a ceremony in southern Romania on Thursday. The ceremony comes one day before Poland and the United States will start construction on another missile defense shield in Poland near the Baltic Sea. The Poland shield is scheduled for activation in 2018.
Russia has threatened to deploy Iskander ballistic missiles to Kaliningrad, a Russian territory between Poland and Lithuania, in response to the planned site in Poland.