President Putin: The modern world is a world of dependence

Russian President Vladimir Putin. Photo: Reuters

Mr. Putin made the above comment during a working visit to the city of Sochi. The Russian President said that Europe cannot object to the US deploying missiles on their territory, even if there is a conflict of interests because no country is completely independent at this time.

“Do you think European countries want to put missiles on their territory? No one wants to. But they choose to keep quiet. Where is their sovereignty?”, Mr. Putin asked.

Leaders from Russia, Türkiye and Iran met in Sochi on February 14 to discuss ending the crisis in Syria. The talks took place as the US and its allies met in Poland to discuss the situation in the Middle East.

During the meeting, while Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani expressed skepticism about Washington's plan to withdraw troops from Syria, Mr. Putin was quite optimistic, saying that this move would be implemented soon.

Late last year, after US President Donald Trump announced that the US wanted to withdraw from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, Moscow was concerned that Washington would deploy more missiles to Europe, a move that could spark a new arms race.

At that time, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov was concerned that after withdrawing from the INF, the US could bring the Aegis Ashore MK41 missile system to its allies in Europe.

Although the US said at that time that it had no plans to bring missiles banned under the INF to Europe, Russia warned that it would respond appropriately, not excluding military options.

Previously, Russia also accused the US of violating the INF by deploying the Aegis Ashore missile defense shield in Poland and Romania.

According to Russian military experts, the Mk 41 launchers of the Aegis Ashore complex, in addition to being able to deploy Standard Missile 3 missiles, can also integrate Tomahawk cruise missiles. Therefore, Russia considers this a threat to targets within their territory if Aegis appears in Europe.

In December 2018, Commander of the Russian Strategic Missile Forces Sergei Karakayev affirmed that US missile shields in Europe are within Russia's strike range.