Russia warns US about risk of re-enactment of “Star Wars”
Moscow believes that Washington's plan to develop a space interception system will cause a dangerous arms race.
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X-37B space plane, one of America's top secret space weapons projects. Photo:USAF. |
"This strategy is in fact a green light for deploying missile strike capabilities in space," Reuters quoted the Russian Foreign Ministry's January 18 statement on the new missile defense strategy just announced by US President Donald Trump.
Russia called on the Trump administration to reconsider this strategy and "avoid irresponsible actions aimed at relaunching the Reagan-era 'Star Wars' program, with a new look and higher technology."
The statement came just a day after Trump announced the Pentagon's new Missile Defense Review (MDR), which recommends developing a space-based warning and interception system.
MDR recommends that the US military deploy more sensor satellites to detect threats early and research space weapons to shoot down enemy missiles as soon as they leave the launch pad, an idea that was proposed in former US President Ronald Reagan's "Star Wars" initiative in the 1980s.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said the US plan was confrontational and would have a negative impact on international stability, which is more fragile than ever. Moscow called on Washington to join in constructive talks on the balance of nuclear weapons "before it is too late".
Trump requested the MDR report from the US Missile Defense Agency in 2017, amid rising tensions between Washington and Pyongyang following a series of North Korean ballistic missile and nuclear tests. This was the first time the US had conducted an assessment of its anti-ballistic missile capabilities since 2010.
