Russian official vows sharp reaction to U.S. Aegis ships

PanARMENIAN.Net - Russia will “react in the sharpest manner” to any U.S. ships equipped with the Aegis combat system attempting to sail by its shores, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said.

In an interview with RIA Novosti, Rogozin did not elaborate on Russia’s possible reaction, but lambasted the US missile defense system – part of which involves ships equipped with the Aegis integrated naval weapons system – for fuelling “an arms race.”

Russia is developing new S-500 interceptor missiles and does not rule out stationing radar stations outside its territory.

“But the country has no plans to station its missiles in other countries, unlike the United States,” Rogozin said.

“We have never placed our interceptor missiles near U.S. borders on ridiculous fabricated pretexts such as ‘protecting our American friends from Canada and Honduras.’ But they do, on the pretext of protecting us and Europe from ‘bad guys in Iran and North Korea’,” Rogozin said.

The United States plans to place elements of its missile defense, intended to protect itself from “rogue states” like Iran and North Korea, in Eastern Europe. Russia vehemently opposes the plan, claiming that its own ballistic missiles would also be covered by the U.S. shield, disrupting the nuclear parity between the countries.