President Dmitry Medvedev warned on Tuesday that a new arms race would erupt within the next decade unless Russia and the West forged an agreement to cooperate on building a missile defence system. In his annual state of the nation address, Medvedev called for closer co-operation with the United States and the European Union, holding out the prospect of closer ties two decades after the Soviet Union's collapse ended the Cold War.
He said tension would ratchet up fast, forcing Russia to bolster its military arsenal, if Western offers of co-operation on a system to defend against missile threats failed to produce a concrete agreement. The warning appeared to reflect wariness in the Kremlin over uncertainty about US Senate ratification of New START, the nuclear arms limitation pact Medvedev signed with President Barack Obama in April, centrepiece of the push for better ties.
"In the coming decade we face the following alternatives: Either we reach agreement on missile defence and create a full-fledged joint mechanism of co-operation, or a new round of the arms race will begin," Medvedev said. "And we will have to take a decision about the deployment of new offensive weapons. It is clear that this scenario would be very grave."
The remarks, in a 72-minute speech to members of parliament and ministers, raised the stakes in sensitive discussions with the United States and Nato on missile defence. The issue has divided Moscow and the West since the 1980s. Medvedev agreed to Nato's offer of missile defence co-operation at a summit with the alliance that was hailed as a fresh start, but the plans are sketchy and Russia has warned it wants an equal voice in evaluating threats and responses.
Medvedev has pursued warmer ties with the West and particularly Washington since he was steered into the presidency by his predecessor, Vladimir Putin. He has embraced Obama's efforts to "reset" a relationship that hit post-Cold War lows during Russia's war with Georgia in August 2008, months after he took office. After the address, Kremlin aide Arkady Dvorkovich told journalists the collapse of the New START pact "would mean nothing good and we are counting on ratification going through."