From: MSN NicknameEagle_wng (Original Message) Sent: 2/13/2008 3:27 PM
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
PUTIN THREATENS TO TARGET UKRAINE WITH MISSILES...
President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Viktor Yushchenko reached an agreement in Moscow on February 12 to avert a threatened Russian cutoff of gas supplies to Ukraine, Russian and international media reported (see Part II, and "RFE/RL Newsline," February 8, 2008). At a joint news conference, Putin warned Ukraine against pursuing membership in NATO, which the Kremlin considers a hostile alliance that seeks to encircle Russia. He said that possible membership "is of course Ukraine's internal [affair]...and we do not have the right to interfere and will not interfere in this process. [But] that raises the question for Russia of the need for retaliatory actions." Putin also cautioned Ukraine against joining the proposed U.S. missile-defense program, which Russia believes is directed against it. Putin said that "it is horrible to say and even horrible to think that, in response to the deployment of such facilities on Ukrainian territory, which cannot theoretically be ruled out, Russia could target its missile systems at Ukraine. Imagine this, just for a second." Putin and other top Russian officials have made similar threats against Poland and the Czech Republic if they participate in missile defense (see "RFE/RL Newsline," January 31 and February 1, 5, and 6, 2008). In response to Putin's comments on possible NATO membership for Ukraine, Yushchenko said on February 12 that "you understand full well that everything that Ukraine does in this direction is not in any way directed at any third country, including Russia." In Kyiv, Ukraine's former defense minister, Anatoliy Hrytsenko, said that "if [Putin] is afraid, then fear will prevent him from taking ill-considered steps against Ukraine. We are an independent state and will make our decisions regardless of what others say." In Washington, U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said on February 12 in regard to Putin's threat against Ukraine: "there he goes again," news agencies reported. This is an apparent allusion to a well-known quote by former President Ronald Reagan. PM
http://www.rferl.org/newsline/2008/02/1-rus/rus-130208.asp
