Russia criticizes escalating US military presence

Many of Russia's most senior government officials made a series of vocal denunciations this past week against what it sees as a quickly escalating, strategic geopolitical threat from the United States. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told Russian news agencies on Jan. 27 that Russia expects the US to explain its growing military presence in the Middle East when the countries next meet to discuss the region. "I have seen no change in Washington's fairly aggressive rhetoric," Lavrov said. "It continues, just like its actions to increase the military presence in the region. It will be one of the questions which we want to clarify in Washington. What's it all about?" Lavrov is expected to attend a meeting of the so-called "Quartet" of international mediators in Washington on Feb. 2 to try to revive Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking. Russia, the United States, EU and United Nations make up the Quartet. Aside from sending an additional 21,500 troops to Iraq to join the 134,000 troops already stationed there, Washington has said it is deploying a second aircraft carrier group in the Gulf as well as Patriot missile defense systems–steps widely seen as a warning to Iran and Syria. The United States also maintains a significant military presence in Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain, the base for the US Navy's Fifth fleet. Russia has sold Iran anti-aircraft missiles and helped it build a nuclear reactor at the port of Bushehr. It also watered down a UN resolution to impose sanctions on Iran that aimed to stop Tehran enriching nuclear material for use in bombs. Washington has hit back with sanctions on Russian defense industry firms it says were cooperating with Iran and Syria. Russia called the measures "illegal" and "vicious." Lavrov said Iran and Syria should not be isolated but should understand they were expected to play a positive role, and in return they would receive an appropriate position in the regional dialogue. "We are deeply convinced that Iran and Syria should not be isolated but brought into the peace process," he said. Colonel Oleg Kulakov, an Iran expert at Moscow Military University, also said the US policy of isolating Iran was an error. "If you isolate Iran there are some forces that may gain strength within the country, such as the religious clerics. If you involve Iran, you will strengthen the less religious, less extremist forces." Iran receives Russian defense missiles A few days before, on Jan. 24, Iranian officials announced that they had received advanced Russian air defense missile systems–weapons intended, according to one Russian news agency, to defend Tehran's major nuclear facilities. Announcement of the delivery of the Tor-M1 mobile missile launchers came as Iran launched three days of military maneuvers. "We have had constructive defense transactions with Russia, and we purchased Tor-M1 missiles that were recently delivered to us," the official website of Iranian state television quoted Minister of Defense Mostafa Mohammad Najjar as saying. Najjar did not say how many missiles were delivered or when they arrived. Previously Moscow said it would supply 29 of the mobile surface-to-air missile systems to Iran under a $700 million contract signed in December 2005. According to Russia's ITAR-Tass news agency, the weapons were expected to be used to protect major government and military installations such as the nuclear facilities at Isfahan, Bushehr, Tehran and in eastern Iran. ITAR-Tass quoted Sergei Chemezov, the head of the country's state-run weapons exporter, as saying that the Tor-M1 missiles had been delivered before the end of December 2006. Alarm over US missile systems On the same day that Iran announced its new defense capabilities, Russia's defense minister harshly criticized US plans to deploy missile defense sites in central Europe, saying that Moscow doesn't trust US claims that they are intended to counter missile threats posed by Iran and North Korea. Sergei Ivanov said that neither Iran nor North Korea has or will have a capability to build missiles that can reach Europe. "They don't and won't have intercontinental ballistic missiles," Ivanov said at a news conference. "And a question comes: whom it's directed against?" US authorities said on Jan. 22 they had told Polish leaders that the United States wants to open formal negotiations on the possibility of locating ground-based interceptor missiles in their nation. Ivanov said that the deployment of US missile defense facilities in Poland and the Czech Republic was a decided issue despite official claims that talks were still ahead. "It's done mostly to assuage domestic public opinion," Ivanov said. "The decision already has been made and the talks serve simply as a cover. Like other new NATO members, the Czech Republic and Poland want to show their loyalty." Russian military officials have said they see the US system as a threat that would upset the security balance and have warned of unspecified measures in response. Space weapon plans slammed The following day, Russian President Vladimir Putin criticized US plans for space-based weapons, saying they were the reason behind a recent Chinese anti-satellite weapons test. Asked about the Chinese test at a news conference in New Delhi, Putin avoided directly criticizing the Chinese, saying only that Russia was against putting any weapons in space. Instead, Putin chose to issue a warning to the US on the dangers of the militarization of space. "At the same time, I would like to note that China was not the first country to conduct such a test," Putin said. Russia's criticism of the US move comes after the United States and other allies raised concerns over the rising militarization of space after a successful test by China of an anti-satellite weapon. "The first such test was conducted back in the late 1980s and we also hear it today about the US military circles considering plans of militarization of space. We must not let the genie out of the bottle," Putin said. The Bush administration has pushed an ambitious space-based missile weapons program and the Pentagon is working on missiles, ground lasers and other technology to shoot down satellites.