European Parliament: Russia is considering the possibility of nuclear strikes on Warsaw.

European Parliament: Russia is considering the possibility of nuclear strikes on Warsaw. (Charter97).

The Vice-President of the European Parliament, Polish politician Ryszard Czarnecki declared it on Polskie radio, Ukrinform reports.

He says the European Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs has adopted a so-called Black Sea report - draft resolution on strategic and military situation in the Black Sea basin, which mentions that Russia has conducted exercises on nuclear attack on Poland.

"EU-Russia relationships are the worst over the years. After all, the Black Sea report, adopted by the European Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs on Monday, proves it. It mentions that Russia has conducted exercises on nuclear attack on our country. This document is very skeptical towards Russia, this is a consequence of the EU continued tough course", the Vice-President of the European Parliament stated.

He stressed the failure of most European leaders to visit the Victory Day celebrations in Moscow on May 9 had a bad impact on the Russians, and it was the EU "accurate hit". The politician explains that the Victory Day for Russia has always been something extraordinary. Such anniversary is the way to demonstrate its power and the fact that Moscow should be taken into account.

"Until recently, Western leaders respected the view and arrived to Moscow. This time everything has changed. Putin expected softening of leading Western countries' line, but he was wrong", Czarnecki said.

It should be reminded that according to Polish media, Moscow rehearsed nuclear attack on Warsaw during joint exercises in Belarus in 2009 and 2013.

Thousands of Russian soldiers were involved. Except for a preventive nuclear strike, maneuvers also included "the suppression of a rebellion" of the Polish minority, as well as the invasion the territory of the Baltic States with a breakthrough to the Kaliningrad region.

According Czarnecki, the European Parliament rejected suggestions the former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, who said, "Forget about the Crimea and begin to build a relationship with Russia, recognizing that Crimea is part of the Russian Federation." "In such a consent of the European Parliament is not and will not" - said vice-president. [Google Translated].

Related: Russian Planes Can Deliver Nuclear Strike Even At London From Belarus....or is the 'target' Brussels?

'Flexibility' - Two Russian Bear bombers enter U.S. Air defense zone; Obama 'admin' doesn't react.

'Flexibility' - Two Russian Bear bombers enter U.S. Air defense zone; Obama 'admin' doesn't react. (FB).

Two Russian nuclear-capable bombers intruded into the U.S. air defense zone near Alaska last week in the latest saber rattling by Moscow, defense officials said.

The Tu-95 Bear H bombers flew into the Alaska zone on April 22. But unlike most earlier incursions, no U.S. interceptor jets were dispatched to shadow them, said defense officials familiar with the latest U.S.-Russian aerial encounter.

Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, a spokesman for the U.S. Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), declined to confirm the incursion. But he said no jets were dispatched last week to intercept intruding aircraft.

The incident was the first Russian bomber incursion of a U.S. or Canadian air defense zone this year. Officials said it likely signals the start of Russia’s long-range aviation spring training cycle. Further aerial incursions are expected.

Last year, U.S. and Canadian jets intercepted Russian bombers on at least six occasions, and intruding Russian long-range aircraft were detected on 10 occasions, Davis said.

Despite remaining in international airspace, “we believe that if the Russian military filed flight plans and self-identified—by ‘squawking and talking’—the overall safety of flight would be enhanced,” Davis said.

These flights often enter the U.S. or Canadian [air defense identification zone], but have not entered U.S. or Canadian sovereign airspace,” he said, adding that the flights are legal since the ADIZ is not sovereign airspace. Hmmmmm.......Once it becomes a 'habit' you become sloppy, that's when they get you! Read the full story here.

Russia Tests Cruise Missile In Violation Of Arms Treaty U.S. Says; Obama Sends Putin A Letter.

Russia Tests Cruise Missile In Violation Of Arms Treaty U.S. Says; Obama Sends Putin A Letter.(NYT)

WASHINGTON — The United States has concluded that Russia violated a landmark arms control treaty by testing a prohibited ground-launched cruise missile, according to senior American officials, a finding that was conveyed by President Obama to Russian President Vladimir V. Putin in a letter on Monday.
It is the most serious allegation of an arms control treaty violation that the Obama administration has leveled against Russia and adds another dispute to a relationship already burdened by tensions over the Kremlin’s support for separatists in Ukraine and its decision to grant asylum to Edward J. Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor.

In January, The New York Times reported that American officials had informed the NATO allies that Russia had tested a ground-launched cruise missile, raising serious concerns about Russia’s compliance with the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, or I.N.F. treaty, as it is commonly called. The State Department said at the time that the issue was under review and that the Obama administration was not yet ready to formally declare it a treaty violation.

In recent months, however, the issue has been taken up by top-level officials, including a meeting this month of the Principals’ Committee, a cabinet-level body that includes Mr. Obama’s national security adviser, the defense secretary, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the secretary of state and the director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Senior officials said the president’s most senior advisers unanimously agreed that the test was a serious violation, and the allegation will be made public soon in the State Department’s annual report on international compliance with arms control agreements.

“The United States has determined that the Russian Federation is in violation of its obligations under the I.N.F. treaty not to possess, produce or flight test a ground launched cruise missile (GLCM) with a range capability of 500 kilometers to 5,500 kilometers or to possess or produce launchers of such missiles,” that report will say.

In his letter to Mr. Putin, delivered by the American Embassy, Mr. Obama underscored his interest in a high-level dialogue with Moscow with the aim of preserving the 1987 treaty and discussing steps the Kremlin might take to come back into compliance. Secretary of State John Kerry delivered a similar message in a Sunday phone call to Sergey V. Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister.

Because the treaty proscribes testing ground launched cruise missiles of medium-range, the Kremlin cannot undo the violation. But administration officials do not believe the cruise missile has been deployed and say there are measures the Russians can take to ameliorate the problem.

Administration officials declined to say what such steps might be, but arms control experts say they could include a promise not to deploy the system and inspections to demonstrate that the cruise missiles and their launchers have been destroyed. Because the missiles are small and easily concealed, obtaining complete confidence that the weapons have been eliminated might be difficult.

NATO’s top commander, Gen. Philip M. Breedlove, has said that the violation requires a response if it cannot be resolved.

“A weapon capability that violates the I.N.F., that is introduced into the greater European land mass is absolutely a tool that will have to be dealt with,” he said in an interview in April. “It can’t go unanswered.” 

Mr. Obama has determined that the United States will not retaliate against the Russians by violating the treaty and deploying its own prohibited medium-range system, officials said. So the responses might include deploying sea-launched and air-launched cruise missiles, which would be an allowable under the accord.
Republican lawmakers have repeatedly criticized the administration for dragging its feet on the issue. Ms. Gottemoeller, the State Department official has had no discussions with her Russian counterparts on the subject since February. And Mr. Kerry’s Sunday call was the first time he has directly raised the violation with Mr. Lavrov, State Department officials said. Administration officials said the upheaval in Ukraine pushed the issue to the back burner and that the downturn in American-Russia relations has led to an interruption of regular meetings on arms control.

The prospects for resolving the violation are also uncertain at best. After Ms. Gottemoeller first raised the matter in 2013, Russian officials said that they had looked into the matter and consider the issue to be closed.

The Russians have also raised their own allegations, a move that American officials believe it is intended to muddy the issue and perhaps give them leverage in any negotiations over compliance. One month after Ms. Gottemoeller raised the American concerns about the testing of the ground launched cruise missile, the Russians responded by pointing to the United States plans to base the Aegis missile system in Romania.

The Aegis system, which is commonly used on warships, would be used to protect American and NATO forces from missile attacks. But the Russians have alleged that it could be used to fire prohibited cruise missiles.

When Mr. Kerry spoke with Mr. Lavrov on Sunday, the Russian foreign minister cited Russia’s concerns over “decoys.” That may have been a reference to Russian charges that the targets that the United States uses in antimissile tests are an I.N.F. treaty violation. American officials regard that allegation, about the issue of the Aegis system and complaints about the use of targets, to be spurious.

An underlying concern of the Obama administration in dealing with the Russians is that the Kremlin may not be wedded to the I.N.F. agreement. During the George W. Bush administration, some Russians officials argued that the treaty should be dropped so that the Kremlin could develop its military capabilities to deal with threats on its periphery including China and Pakistan.

In a June 2013 meeting with Russian defense industry officials, Mr. Putin described Mr. Gorbachev’s decision to sign the accord as “debatable to say the least,” but asserted that Russia would uphold the agreement. Even some conservative American analysts say that in pursing the compliance concern the United States should not provide the Kremlin with an opportunity to back out of the agreement.

“For the United States to declare that we are pulling out of the treaty in response to what Russia has done would actually be welcome in Moscow because they are wrestling with the question of how they terminate,” Stephen Rademaker, a former Bush administration official, told the House Armed Services Committee earlier this month.

“We shouldn’t make it any easier for them,” he added. “We should force them to take the onus of that.”

Russian Planes Can Deliver Nuclear Strike Even At London From Belarus....or is the 'target' Brussels?

Russian Planes Can Deliver Nuclear Strike Even At London From Belarus....or is the 'target' Brussels? HT: charter97.


Russian aviation in Babruisk and Barabavichy poses a threat to entire Europe.

Military observer Aliaksandr Alesin said it to charter97.org commenting on possible stationing of Tu-160 Russian strategic bombers in Belarus.

– To what extent is it possible that these planes will be sent here?

– If we take only military arguments, it is not reasonable. Tu-160 is an intercontinental strategic bomber. Its range, to put it mildly, is 10,000 kilometres, but it can fly around the world with several in-flight refuellings. So, it doesn't matter where they are stationed. Taking into account that the plane's speed is more than 2,000 kilometres per hour, Belarus with a perimeter of 650 by 550 kilometres is the least comfortable place for it. Besides, Russia's unfriendly countries lie to the west, to the north and, to all appearances, to the south of the country. The plane has no place to fly except for the east. It even cannot perform normal practice flights.

– Do you mean it is more convenient for the planes to perform combat tasks from Russia?

– Yes. They are stationed on the Volga River, near the town of Engels. There's a long-range aviation base known from the Soviet times. If they arrive here in Belarus and probably take part in the parade, it will be a propagandist step to demonstrate Russia's readiness for decisive actions.

– Sending such planes that consume a lot of fuel only for the participation in the parade is not cheap, is it?

– The matter is that nobody counts money during the war. I think Russia can afford it to back its oral threats in case of opening NATO bases in the Baltic States, Poland and Ukraine. 

From the military point of view, it is enough to station Tu-22MZ long-range planes in Belarus which were designed for the European theatre of war.

Russia also has new perfect Su-34 fighter bombers that have excellent electronics and can carry various weapons. From the military point of view, it would be more reasonable to station these aircraft here. 

In my opinion, Su-34 planes are an excellent tool to threaten Polish aerodromes, potential air defence systems in Poland and so on. Anyway, I think even the regiment of Su-27SMZ equipped with 300 km range missiles, which will be stationed here, will be more than enough to perform the tasks of containment and deterrence.

Moreover, they also can carry tactical nuclear weapons. They can fly about 1,500 kilometres without refuelling that is enough to threaten Berlin and even London.Hmmm......And NATO in Brussels.