The announcement that the United States will deploy long-range missiles on German soil from 2026 has sparked an almost immediate reaction from Russia, which has threatened a “military response” and described the decision taken by Washington and Berlin as “escalation.” NATO countries, led by the United States, have reinforced their defences in Europe following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, but the step taken by both countries, announced on the sidelines of the NATO summit, represents a qualitative leap. For the first time since the Cold War, American weapons systems capable of reaching Russian territory will be stationed in Germany.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz praised President Joe Biden’s decision as an important step towards increasing security and deterrence, recalling that there is “an incredible build-up of weapons in Russia that threaten European territory.” “It is time to guarantee peace in Europe,” Scholz added during the meeting of the Atlantic Alliance in Washington. Asked whether he expected greater internal resistance in his party to the arrival of long-range missiles, the chancellor replied that the decision had been “a long time in the making and that it is not a surprise to those interested in security and peace policy.” The issue was addressed at the last Munich Security Conference in February, he explained: “We have been working for some time on ways to guarantee deterrence that secures our Alliance.”
Scholz’s comments come after it emerged that Russia planned to assassinate the chief executive of German arms manufacturer Rheinmetall, a major producer of artillery shells and military vehicles for Ukraine, CNN reported. The plot to kill Armin Papperger is part of a broader plan to eliminate defense industry executives across Europe who support Ukraine’s war effort, CNN said, citing five Western sources.
Speaking at a press conference alongside Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, outgoing NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg declined to directly confirm the allegation but stressed that “we have seen a pattern, a campaign by the Russian secret services of hostile attempts against NATO targets.”
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has given credibility to the report by stating that Russia is waging “a hybrid war of aggression” on all kinds of fronts, such as sabotage and cyber attacks, and linking it to the Rheinmetall case. “We have seen that there have been attacks on people and on European territory. We have seen that there have been attacks on factories. And this underlines once again that we, as Europeans, must protect ourselves as best we can and not be naive,” she said on Thursday.
The United States announced late on Wednesday, during the NATO summit that closes today in Washington, that it will begin deploying long-range missiles in Germany from 2026. These projectiles, which will include SM-6s, Tomahawks and hypersonic missiles, will represent the most powerful weapons installed on European soil since the end of the Cold War. The planned deployment begins more than a year after the US presidential elections next November, which means that a possible victory by Donald Trump could reverse it.
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These capabilities “will have a significantly longer range than ground-based missiles currently deployed on European soil. Deploying these advanced capabilities will demonstrate the United States’ commitment to NATO and its contributions to Europe’s integrated deterrent capability,” the joint statement said. Tomahawk cruise missiles have a range of more than 2,000 kilometers. Moscow is about 1,600 kilometers from Berlin as the crow flies.
The move by Washington and Berlin has angered Moscow. “I hope this does not happen, because if it does, Russia’s response will be tough and appropriate. This is unacceptable. If you look at all the post-war documents, Germany has no right to possess such weapons,” said the President of the Federation Council, Valentina Matviyenko.
A deputy chairman of the Senate’s Foreign Affairs Committee, Vladimir Dzhabarov, has called for the deployment of Russian missiles in Cuba, North Korea, Venezuela and Nicaragua. Meanwhile, the Russian ambassador to Germany, Sergei Nechayev, has warned that “these measures will require an appropriate response from Russia.”
However, Russian authorities themselves have hinted that Moscow had already entered the arms race some time ago. “They [Estados Unidos y Alemania] “They will throw their money away,” Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said in a message released by his department. “Without nerves and without emotions, we will work out, above all, a military response to this new threat,” the diplomat added, as quoted by RIA Novosti. “The work necessary to prepare countermeasures by Russia began a long time ago and is being carried out systematically.”
Russia deployed nuclear weapons in Belarus in mid-2023 and suspended several agreements against the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. The Kremlin unilaterally froze the New Start treaty with the United States on nuclear arms control last year and its parliament revoked the pact not to carry out tests with this arsenal.
Washington’s announcement and Moscow’s response are reminiscent of the Cold War, when the two powers embarked on an arms race in the heart of Europe that sparked widespread protests in the then Federal Republic of Germany. The weapons deployments continued until the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) was signed in 1987, banning nuclear and conventional missiles with a range of between 500 and 5,500 kilometres. The treaty remained in force until Washington (with Donald Trump as president) withdrew from it in 2019, claiming Russia had repeatedly violated it.
Despite Moscow’s criticism, the Kremlin had already hinted at a new confrontation with the White House a few weeks ago. “Russia must start producing short- and medium-range missiles in response to the actions of the United States,” President Vladimir Putin warned his Security Council on June 28. “We need to produce these attack systems now and then, based on the real situation, decide where to place them if necessary to ensure our security,” the president added.
Washington and Berlin hope that the planned missiles will cover European shortcomings until their partners have developed their own missiles. In this regard, on Thursday Germany, France, Italy and Poland formally committed to developing their own long-range missiles – with a maximum range of more than 500 kilometres, which is the German Taurus – launched from the ground, after Russia’s war in Ukraine exposed the shortage of this type of weapon in European arsenals.
The four signatory countries hope to have a first draft of the missile by the end of this year, while other specifications will be decided as the project progresses, French Defence Minister Sébastien Lecornu said at the signing ceremony of the memorandum of understanding for the manufacture of the weapon.
Lecornu has left open the possibility of incorporating other countries into the project, specifically the United Kingdom of the new Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer. “The idea is to open it up as much as possible,” he said. “It is worthwhile, even at a budgetary level, because it allows for the amortization of various costs,” the minister said.
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