Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Moscow regarded the joint missile defense efffort as an "object of concern," expressing wariness over what he called the possibility that the system could be directed against Russia and China.
"We oppose the construction of missile defense systems whose purpose is to ensure military superiority," Lavrov wrote in response to questions from Kyodo News agency ahead of a visit to Japan later this month.
Tokyo and Washington have been jointly developing the advanced missile defense system since North Korea's conducted a series of missile launches and a nuclear test last year.
What is it with Putin and his determination to make sure all his neighbors are vulnerable to Russian nukes? And not just vulnerable, since neither the European nor the Japan-based system could withstand a large volley of missiles. Russia seems to be insisting not only on having the right to nuke their neighbors, but the right to do so without having to really exert themselves or waste missiles flinging twenty or so to make sure Warsaw or Tokyo burn and glow. Hey, Moscow says, we'd only have a few thousand left after that!
Or maybe I'm being unfair to Putin and his budding Axis of Evil Mentor State. Maybe he doesn't want to nuke Europeans or Japan.
Maybe Putin just wants Iran to have the ability to nuke Europe and wants North Korea to have the ability to nuke Japan.
See, maybe Russia doesn't want to nuke anybody. Putin just want the benefits of Europe and Japan being nuked by somebody else more expendible than his country is!
Ah yes, feel the love.
