Washington and Berlin said in a joint statement on July 10 that the US will begin deploying long-range missiles in Germany in 2026, "with a significantly longer range than current land-based missiles deployed in Europe".
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| German Chancellor has downplayed the risk of tensions with Russia over the US deployment of long-range missiles. Pictured: A US missile test launch. (Source: US Department of Defense). |
Speaking at a joint press conference with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said the US plan to deploy missiles in Germany would not increase tensions with Russia.
According to Mr. Scholz, these weapons have a deterrent effect to prevent war.
“These weapons enhance security by deterrence. We are always concerned with the need to prevent war,” he explained.
Mr. Scholz also reaffirmed that Germany will provide weapons to Ukraine in a way that avoids direct confrontation with Russia.
"We are clear: There will be no arms deliveries or options to use weapons that could turn the Russia-Ukraine conflict into a Russia-NATO conflict, but the decisions we make here are always aimed at ensuring the security of our country and NATO. That means we are strong enough, we are making a big enough effort and we are doing the right thing. This certainly includes missile defense and deterrence capabilities," the German head of government said.
Washington and Berlin said in a joint statement on July 10 that the US will begin deploying long-range missiles in Germany in 2026, "with a significantly longer range than current land-based missiles deployed in Europe".
Russian Ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov pointed out that such plans increase the likelihood of a missile race and could lead to uncontrolled escalation.
Meanwhile, referring to Washington's plan to deploy missiles in Germany, expert Theodore Postol, professor emeritus of science, technology and national security at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (USA), recently warned that it was an "extremely serious escalation by the US" related to Russia's nuclear threats.
Professor Postol, an American expert on missile defense who has served as an advisor to the US Navy Chief of Staff and worked at Stanford University and Argonne National Laboratory, said it would be difficult for the Russian government to ignore such an "extremely serious" escalation by the US in the Russian nuclear threat.
According to Professor Postol, the announcement by Washington and Berlin means that a mobile modification of the Aegis Ashore Missile Defense System that can launch ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads could be deployed in Germany.
The system poses an “extremely short nuclear strike warning to Russia,” Postol said, stressing that this is exactly the kind of very short nuclear warning threat that would have existed had the Soviet Union not withdrawn its ballistic missiles from Cuba in 1962.
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