Prime Minister Tony Blair's official spokesman said Europe as a whole had "concerns about Russia's behaviour and will not be shy in expressing those concerns".
"We want to have a constructive relationship but the nature of that relationship is as much up to Russia as to us," he told reporters.
"We want to have a constructive dialogue with Russia. We want to be able to talk about issues such as Kosovo, Iran and other global issues in a constructive way." Russia had nothing to fear from the anti-missile defence shield, he added, saying: "It's not aimed at Russia. It's aimed at the possibility of rogue states having nuclear weapons."
Yet Putin insists on picking a fight:
"If a part of the strategic nuclear potential of the United States appears in Europe and, in the opinion of our military specialists, will threaten us, then we will have to take appropriate steps in response. What kind of steps? We will have to have new targets in Europe," Putin said, according to a transcript released by the Kremlin. These could be targeted with "ballistic or cruise missiles or maybe a completely new system" he said.
His ridiculous attacks on a proposed US missile defense system in Eastern Europe (We didn't target you with our nuclear missiles when you were defenseless, but now that you have missile defenses we will target you) are only the latest. Putin has compiled quite the record (tip to Engram):
Putin has gone from genial host to scary guest. In the last 12 months he has been at the center of a series of ugly incidents, including rows with neighbors and the expropriation of foreign oil company assets in Russia. Moscow has also sold air-defense systems to Iran, jet fighters to Syria and a nuclear reactor to Burma. Inside Russia, meanwhile, Putin's opponents have started turning up dead, or have been jailed and beaten by the police.
The G8 is alarmed. U.S. senator and candidate John McCain has denounced Putin's recent rhetoric as "the most aggressive from a Russian leader since the end of the cold war." France's new president, Nicolas Sarkozy, swore on the campaign trail that he would not shrink from "denouncing human-rights violations" in Russia. And Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel, according to a German diplomat who was not authorized to speak on the record, was "chilled" by the defiance Putin showed over human-rights complaints at a recent meeting. The British, meanwhile are perturbed by Russia's refusal to extradite the leading suspect in the fatal poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko, a Russian spy turned British citizen, who was killed last November in London.
But this is not going to recreate the Cold War and intimidate or even Finlandize Europe in the face of Russian power:
In short, the Russia threat is helping to create a united European front dedicated to greater energy efficiency and independence.
Russia isn't the Soviet Union and just because Putin talks like a 1980 commie doesn't make Russia as scary.
Although their nuclear arsenal means we can't laugh at the jokers in the Kremlin and their farcical complaints. Our State Department has their job cut out for them.
