Washington has threatened a strong response if Russia deploys nuclear
weapons in Latin American countries or near the United States.
The threat came after Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow was
considering deploying its missiles in several Latin American countries or to
counter the deployment of US and NATO military forces near Russia.
US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield said Washington
would not be intimidated by Russia's aggressive brainstorming about placing
military hardware or even nuclear-tipped missiles near the United States.
“Russia is pulling every straw from the basket they can pull to intimidate
us into allowing them to take this action. They know that if they take
aggressive action against the United States, then they can expect a
response, and that response will be a strong response for them,"
Thomas-Greenfield told Washington Post Live on Tuesday (18/1/2022).
"I know that they are trying to respond in a way to intimidate the world,
but we will not allow ourselves to be intimidated, nor will we allow Ukraine
to be intimidated to endanger its own security," the American diplomat
continued.
Thomas-Greenfield did not elaborate on why a purely hypothetical Russian
military deployment near a US coast would be "aggressive" while the ongoing
US and NATO buildup on Moscow's doorstep would not.
President Vladimir Putin and other Russian officials have repeatedly
expressed concern about the construction of US missile defense facilities in
Poland and Romania that could easily be converted to fire nuclear-tipped
Tomahawk cruise missiles deep into Russia's interior.
Last month, Putin also warned that the deployment of US missiles in Ukraine
would mean only 4-5 minutes of flight time to Moscow in the event of war.
On Monday, when asked whether Russia was considering deploying missiles in
Cuba or Venezuela, Peskov said, "Obviously, in the context of the current
situation, Russia is exploring options that will ensure its security."
A week earlier, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov signaled that Russia
remained open to deploying some type of military infrastructure in Latin
America.
"I don't want to confirm anything, nor will I rule anything out," he said.
In December, days before the publication of Russia's twin security proposals
to the US and NATO, Ryabkov said that Russia offered an alternative to
repeating the Cuban Missile Crisis-style scenario.
"This includes non-deployment of weapons of this kind near our borders,
withdrawal of troops and assets that destabilize the situation, rejection of
provocative actions, including various exercises," he said.
