Europe is making a bet that they can’t win ; Russia may be forced to deploy mid-range nuclear missiles in Europe
Ryabkov said Russia would be forced to act if the West declined to join it in a moratorium on intermediate-range nuclear forces (INF) in Europe – part of a package of security guarantees it is seeking as the price for defusing the crisis over Ukraine.
Lack of progress towards a political and diplomatic solution would lead Russia to respond in a military way, with military technology, Ryabkov told Russia’s RIA news agency.
If NATO is right that Russia has already deployed this system in the European part of the country, west of the Ural Mountains, then Ryabkov’s threat is an empty one, according to Gerhard Mangott, an expert on Russian foreign policy and arms control at the University of Innsbruck in Austria.
But if Russia’s denials are true, he said, then Moscow’s warning is “the final signal to NATO that it should enter into talks with Russia about a freeze-freeze agreement.”
He added: “If NATO sticks with the position not to negotiate about a deal, then we will certainly see Russia deploy the Screwdriver missile at its very western border.”
But Ryabkov said Russia had a “complete lack of trust” in the alliance.
“They don’t permit themselves to do anything that could somehow increase our security – they believe they can act as they need, to their advantage, and we simply have to swallow all this and deal with it. This is not going to continue.”
DPA Notes: To be honest, NATO, especially the European countries, are gambling without the chips necessary to even win.
Decades of degradation of their respective military, as complacency set in after the end of the Cold War, was finally called out by Trump during his threat to withdraw from NATO should the allied countries do not honor their obligation to spend 2% of their GDP on their military. And that was merely 2-3 years ago. Europe’s military are still a shadow of their former cold war self.
In contrast, due to the constant disrespect and disregard shown to Putin and Russia’s interest by the Americans as well as Western Europe, Russia had embarked on a comprehensive military rejuvenation over the past 20 years after USA unilaterally withdrew from the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty, while facing constant threat of NATO and European Union encroachment towards the Russian border. Deployments in Syria was also used to test out new military hardware, ammunitions and tactics, which lessons learnt was immediately brought back to refresh their training, equipment modifications and military doctrines.
The Europe today is not in the condition to fight a war; they are not ready for one. And with USA distracted by the worsening situation along the Taiwan Straits, this game of chicken is not going to end well should they make a misstep and accidentally descent into a pointless war with Russia – a war that Putin had been meticulously preparing for over the past 20 years.
Diplomacy must prevail in this brainless crisis.