Russians Threaten Poland and Czech Republic Over Missile Defense

A top Russian general, Nikolai Solovstov, has stated that if Poland and the Czech Republic agree to host American missile defense systems in their countries, they could very well come under attack from Russian missiles, the Associated Press is reporting.

Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek and Polish Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski, were meeting together in Warsaw at the time of the Russian announcement. Both countries were expressing their intent to build the anti-missile defense system with the United States.

General Solovstov stated that it would be very possible for Russian Strategic Missile Command to target these facilities as they are being built in order to stop them.

The new threat comes little over a week after Russian President Vladimir Putin warned of a growing "unipolar world" with the United States as the sole center of power at a conference in Munich. Russia sees the building of these American missile defense systems as a threat to Russia. The pronouncement took the United States and the rest of the West by surprise.

Beyond threatening missile strikes against Poland and the Czech Republic, Solovstov also stated that Russia might repeal certain arms control treaties and begin making new missiles that are currently banned, including upgraded intermediate range missiles.

Europe already has an anti-missile system in place. However the system is limited and unable to counter the advanced strategic missiles which Russia has available. Russia believes that the new American anti-missile defense system could be able to counter their missiles.

The United States has maintained from the beginning of the negotiations on these missile defense systems that Russia is not the target, but Iran and the Middle East. For the United States these anti-missile defense systems are simply the next step in the War on Terror, providing protection from missile attacks from potential extremist groups or rogue governments operating in the Middle East.