Russian President Vladimir Putin warned the United States that if Washington deployed long-range missiles in Germany, Russia would place equivalent missiles within the West’s strike zone. Meanwhile, a security council official stated that Ukraine was allegedly exploiting the peace talks to provide itself with a “respite” amid military and domestic issues, according to Russian media.
In a speech to sailors from Russia, China, Algeria, and India on the occasion of Russian Navy Day in St. Petersburg, Putin warned the United States that it risked provoking a Cold War-style missile crisis with the move.
The flight time to targets on our territory of such missiles, which in the future may be equipped with nuclear warheads, will be about 10 minutes. We will take mirror measures to deploy, taking into account the actions of the United States, its satellites in Europe and in other regions of the world.
On 10 July, the US announced that it would begin deploying long-range missiles to Germany from 2026 in preparation for a longer-term deployment. It will include the SM-6, Tomahawk cruise missiles, and hypersonic weapons under development.
Cold War threat
Russian and US diplomats argue that their diplomatic relations are worse than during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. Moscow and Washington call for de-escalation while both parties make moves towards escalation.
Putin stated that the US was escalating tensions and had transferred Typhon missile systems to Denmark and the Philippines. He also compared the US plans to NATO’s decision to deploy Pershing II launchers in Western Europe in 1979.
This situation is reminiscent of the events of the Cold War related to the deployment of American medium-range Pershing missiles in Europe.
In 1983, the Soviet leadership, including General Secretary Yuri Andropov, and the KGB interpreted a number of US moves, including the deployment of Pershing II and major NATO exercises, as signs that the West was about to launch a preemptive strike against the Soviet Union.
Putin repeated an earlier warning that Russia might resume production of nuclear-capable medium- and shorter-range missiles and then consider where to deploy them after the United States delivered similar missiles to Europe and Asia.
Respite for Ukraine
Russian presidential aide Nikolai Patrushev noted that the Ukrainian authorities’ statements about possible peace talks with Russia were just a ploy to get the necessary “respite” against the backdrop of internal challenges in the country.
During the special military operation [war in Ukraine] we now have an advantage, the West and Ukraine are interested in restoring their forces, they need a respite. Therefore, all these statements have precisely the tactical nature of a respite. In fact, if we look at their actions, no steps are being taken to conduct peace talks.
Earlier, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said during talks with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Guangzhou that Ukraine was preparing for dialogue and negotiations with Russia. However, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov urged Ukraine to take concrete actions rather than sending “incomprehensible signals.”
Russia’s conditions for peace talks are as follows: the lifting of international sanctions, the withdrawal of Ukraine’s troops and its renunciation of its claims to Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia regions, and Crimea. The president also claimed that Kyiv should refuse to join NATO, but the administration of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky rejected the Russian party’s conditions, calling them “an ultimatum.”
