Russia draws ‘red line’ on US missile defence
Foreign Desk Report

MOSCOW—Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov underlined Russia’s increasingly muscular foreign policy Monday, laying out a series of non-negotiable “red line” issues, including Kosovo and US missile defence. “There are so-called ‘red line’ issues for Russia,” Lavrov said in a speech to students at the Moscow State Institute for International Relations. “There we cannot fail to react and we must stick to our position to the end.”
Lavrov specified Kosovo — where Russia opposes Western proposals to grant the province independence from Serbia — and opposition to US missile defence plans for Central Europe as areas where Moscow would not “horse-trade.” His comments were the latest sign of hawkish Russian opposition to key areas of US foreign policy under President Vladimir Putin, who is using massive oil and gas revenues to rebuild Russia’s military and restore its diplomatic clout.
Lavrov said some were worried by “the rapid rebirth of our country as one of the leading countries of the world.... However, this does not mean that it’s necessary to think up yet another myth about the Russian threat.” He also used his speech — an annual occasion marking the start of the academic year at Russia’s most prestigious international affairs institute — to attack a probe by key US ally Britain into the murder of fugitive Kremlin critic Alexander Litvinenko. Lavrov dismissed attempts to extradite a KGB veteran over the radiation poisoning in London last year as “a noisy propaganda show.” “Great Britain has become a voluntary, or involuntary actor in a provocation against Russia,” Lavrov charged.
The Kremlin has already shown itself ready to play hardball on Kosovo and missile defence. Moscow, a close ally of Serbia used the threat of its veto power in July to block efforts by Western nations to secure a UN Security Council resolution giving independence to Kosovo, an ethnic-Albanian dominated province in southern Serbia.
Russian officials have also threatened that Moscow could recognise the independence of separatist areas in Georgia, a Western ally south of Russia, should Kosovo be allowed to break off without Serbian agreement. Washington has also taken a tough line on Kosovo, suggesting it could unilaterally recognise independence for the province if the United Nations fails to do so.
Lavrov’s inclusion of missile defence as a “red line” issue added to a deepening diplomatic row over Washington’s wish to deploy a missile-tracking radar in the Czech Republic and anti-missile rockets in Poland. Russia says the system is aimed at its own massive nuclear force. Washington insists the target is smaller military powers posing a potential threat to Europe, such as Iran or North Korea.
Putin, who took office in 2000 and is to step down next year at the end of his second term, has presided over rapid economic growth, mostly thanks to the country’s massive hydrocarbon output and high energy prices on world markets. He has also enacted wide-ranging political reforms concentrating power in the Kremlin and restoring state control over much of the media.
Lavrov said “the world needs a capable Russia” and that the West should take care to avoid provoking confrontation. “There is no need to hurry and take decisions that lead to a confrontational character..., whether this is anti-missile defence, Kosovo, or the further expansion of NATO,” he said. Twelve Russian strategic bombers will take part in an Arctic exercise on Monday and Tuesday including tactaical launches of cruise missiles, an air force spokesman said.
He did not specify where the exercise was taking place but said TU-95MC bombers would take off from five air bases stretching from the Volga River city of Engels to Anadyr on the Chukotka Peninsula overlooking the United States. “The planes will also practice mid-air refuelling from Il-78 transport planes,” the spokesman said. Last month, President Vladimir Putin ordered Russia’s air force to resume long-range patrols by the strategic bombers, abandoned since the end of the Cold War. In line with his assertive foreign policy and efforts to build up the Russian armed forces, Putin has said the resumption of patrols is needed to guarantee national security.