BAKU, December 26 (AVN) - Russian Defence Minister Igor Sergeyev said on Tuesday Russia was ready to make reprisals in case the United States withdraws from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty unilaterally.
"Regardless of Washington's decision on the ABM issue, Russia is capable of maintaining its national security," Sergeyev, currently on a visit to Azerbaijan, told reporters.
Russia's military leadership "has elaborated several variants of reprisals for the possible deployment of a national missile defence (NMD) by the United States," the minister said. This was done due to the latest statements of some members of the ingoing US government, he stressed.
The Clinton administration took into account that Russia, China and several European nations fiercely opposed the US plans to deploy NMD, but the statements of the new administration "are alarming for us," Sergeyev said.
"In case the United States withdraws from the ABM Treaty unilaterally, the entire system of international treaties on strategic stability will collapse," the minister stressed. Though Russia, including its military, has had no contacts with the new administration, "the talks between Moscow and Washington on preservation of the ABM Treaty are likely to be very complicated," he said.