Washington’s plans for a global anti-ballistic missile system are eroding strategic stability, the Foreign Ministry has says
The US is taking a “reckless approach” to global stability through its pursuit of a worldwide anti-ballistic missile defense system, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said.
The initiative, backed by President Donald Trump and dubbed the Golden Dome, envisions a layered defense network capable of intercepting long-range threats. The system would include space-based interceptors and options for preemptive strikes. The Congressional Budget Office has projected the program’s cost could exceed $542 billion over two decades.
Zakharova warned on Tuesday the plan “directly undermines the foundations of strategic stability,” a view she said is also held by China. Addressing a Chinese media inquiry at a regular briefing, she noted that both governments had outlined their shared concerns in a joint statement earlier this month.
The statement, released on May 8, accused Washington of disregarding the longstanding link between offensive and defensive strategic forces, a principle the two countries described as central to maintaining global equilibrium. Moscow and Beijing also criticized the US declaration of space as a “warfighting domain” and the fact that the Golden Dome project requires further militarizing it.
Zakharova called on the US to reconsider its position and back a Russian-proposed treaty aimed at banning the deployment of weapons in space. Such a measure, she argued, would reduce the risk of an arms race beyond Earth’s atmosphere.
Earlier on Tuesday, North Korea issued a similar warning, stating that countries perceiving a threat from the US would be compelled to expand their military arsenals in response to the deployment of the Golden Dome.
In 2002, US President George W. Bush withdrew from a bilateral treaty with Russia that limited the development of anti-ballistic missile technologies. Bush argued the move was necessary to defend against so-called “rogue states.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that the decision had forced Moscow to develop advanced nuclear weapons capable of penetrating any missile shield in order to preserve its strategic deterrence. Last December, he contended that Washington’s missile defense investments “cost a lot to taxpayers and contribute little to the security for their country.”
