The US and its allies will not let Russia “drag us back to the past,” US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter yesterday said in an address in Berlin, as he accused Moscow of trying to recreate a Soviet-era sphere of influence.
Russia’s intervention in Ukraine has put NATO allies in eastern Europe on edge and triggered a series of military moves by the NATO alliance, including an acceleration of exercises and the creation of a NATO rapid response force.
Carter, who was scheduled to view components of that NATO force later yestetday, said the alliance would keep the door open to an improved relationship with Russia but said flatly: “It’s up to the Kremlin to decide.”
Photo: AP
“We do not seek a cold, let alone a hot war with Russia. We do not seek to make Russia an enemy,” Carter said. “But make no mistake: We will defend our allies, the rules-based international order, and the positive future it affords us all.”
Carter on Sunday said that the US and NATO were preparing militarily for the prospect that their rift with Russia could even outlast Russian President Vladimir Putin.
During his trip this week, Carter will climb aboard a US warship in Estonia fresh from Baltic Sea drills. In Brussels, he will meet NATO defense leaders, and could offer more details on plans to pre-position heavy military equipment, officials say.
Moscow has decried the new steps by NATO and threatened to strengthen its own forces and to add more than 40 intercontinental ballistic missiles to its nuclear arsenal this year.
US officials say Ukraine has illustrated the importance of being able to counter “hybrid warfare,” the blend of unidentified troops, propaganda and economic pressure that the West says Russia has used there.
NATO’s historic focus had been the conventional threats of the Cold War, which ended in 1991. However, Carter said NATO “will not rely on the Cold War playbook,” citing instead a combination of military and non-military tools, including sanctions.
He encouraged Europe to keep up its sanctions — which he called the best tool — for as long as it takes to change Russia’s calculus.
“The United States will not let Russia drag us back to the past,” he said.
The US has refused to provide lethal arms to Ukraine, worried that would only escalate the conflict.
Carter at one point said “we’ve provided weapons to Ukraine,” but his spokesman, Brent Colburn, said the secretary misspoke.
Turning his attention to Germany, Carter commended Germany’s leadership during the Ukraine crisis. He also sought to encourage a stronger German military role globally.
Still, he called for more defense spending “to ensure that Germany’s defense investments match Germany’s leadership role.”
On his way to Germany, Carter told reporters aboard his Pentagon plane that utin was a “malign influence” in Eastern Europe and that his vow to expand Moscow’s cache of nuclear missiles was “loose rhetoric.”
While slamming Putin’s saber-rattling, Carter said the US still seeks Russian cooperation on issues such as the Iranian nuclear program and a settlement of the Syrian civil war, now into a fourth year.
Meanwhile, US Senator John McCain, speaking on Sunday in Kiev, said it was in the interest of the US and Europe to “reverse” Putin’s aggression.
The Russian leader “may continue to pursue a strategy of just biting off small chunks of Ukraine,” said McCain, who is chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Additional reporting by Bloomberg
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