Russia defense minister says US working on military scenarios near their border
The US is working on military “scenarios” near Russia’s border, Russia’s defense minister warned after the US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel’s Wednesday speech during the Association of the United States Army’s annual conference on Wednesday, which declared that US armed forces “must deal with a revisionist Russia – with its modern and capable army – on NATO’s doorstep.”
President Barack Obama meets with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin at his dacha outside Moscow, Russia 2009 Pete Souza photo
Sergey Shoigu expressed “grave concern” and “surprise” at “Chuck Hagel’s thesis on the necessity for the American army to ‘deal’ with ‘modern and capable’ Russian armed forces on NATO’s doorstep is of grave concern,” TASS quoted Shoigu as saying. “This testifies to the fact that the Pentagon is working on scenarios for operations at the borders of our country.”
“I know US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel personally. That is why his speech at the US Army annual meeting in which he called Russia the main enemy surprised all of us, to put it mildly,” Shoigu noted.
Shoigu went further, pointing to the Middle East, especially the current actions in Iraq, saying that “the regions in which the United States tries to promote democracy has a trend to fall into bloody chaos after the US accomplishes its missions.”
In terms of new threats at NATO’s borders, Shoigu said it is the US that has been “stubbornly approaching … closer to our doors.”
Shoigu proposed “unbiased and impartial dialogue” instead of “escalation of tensions behind someone’s backs.”
Washington responded on Thursday, stating that the US did not issue any threats in Hagel’s speech.
“There were no threatening comments in that speech aimed at any country,” Pentagon Press Secretary Rear Adm. John Kirby said at a briefing on Thursday. He added that it would be “imprudent” for the US “not to be thinking about the kinds of readiness capabilities we need to have throughout Europe because we have significant treaty commitments through NATO to our allies there.”
