All it took was a tiny spark from the US, for Russia to blow things
\nout of proportion. The US President Donald Trump announced his country would
\npull out of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty (INF) signed with
\nMoscow in 1987, and which, according to the White House, has been repeatedly
\nviolated by Russia for years. Vladimir Putin was quick to react, and claimed
\nthe decision to denounce the treaty would lead to a new arms race. Hinting at
\ndangerous, even apocalyptic future scenarios, according to some of his aides,
\nPutin threatened with a quick and effective response in kind. Those European
\ncountries that would agree to station US missiles would expose their territory
\nto the threat of a possible retaliatory strike, Putin added, and said he was
\nhoping to discuss the issue with President Trump during their meeting in Paris
\non November 11.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Romania, which feels targeted directly by these
\nstatements, given that under the NATO umbrella the USA has activated in
\nDeveselu, southern Romania, a missile shield base equipped with missile
\ninterceptors able to shoot down enemy ballistic missiles while they are still
\nin space, responded to Putin’s statements. According to the Romanian Foreign
\nMinistry Russia’s mentioning this system in the context of the dispute on the
\nINF is completely irrelevant. Moreover, Moscow’s aggressive rhetoric is
\nunwarranted and counterproductive, given that Kremlin has received long ago all
\nthe necessary assurances and explanations both from Romania, and the
\nNorth-Atlantic Alliance. Still, Bucharest reiterates them now, and says the
\nmissile shield is purely defensive and complies with all international
\ncommitments.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Following these new threats targeting European countries, and
\nprecisely in order to remind President Putin that NATO stands by its members,
\nthe Alliance initiated in Norway on Thursday the biggest military drills since
\nthe Cold War, simulating a response to an attack on one of the Allies. Taking
\npart in the manoeuvres, known as Trident Juncture and scheduled to end on
\nNovember 7, are 50,000 troops, 250 aircraft, 65 vessels and 10,000 land
\nvehicles from 31 NATO member and partner states. NATO does not want a conflict,
\nbut it is prepared to protect all its members against any threat, the
\norganisation’s secretary general Jens Stoltenberg said. Moscow retorted
\nquickly, describing the exercise as provocative and anti-Russian.<\/p>\n
(Translated by A.M. Popescu)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Romanian Foreign Ministry responds to Putin’s warning regarding the missile shield base in Deveselu<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":109,"featured_media":79292,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37738],"tags":[39470,30604,34133,39469,28959],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-79291","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-today-in-the-news","tag-anti-ballistic-shield-in-deveselu","tag-foreign-ministry","tag-intermediate-range-nuclear-forces-treaty","tag-missile-defense","tag-vladimir-putin"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n