Following a successful test of the United States’ anti-ballistic missile capabilities this week, Russian President Vladimir Putin called the missile defense system’s components in South Korea and Alaska a threat to Russia.
The Ground-based Midcourse Defense system currently features four missile interceptors in California and 32 more at Fort Greely in Alaska’s Interior.
Putin – speaking through a translator at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum – said other world leaders are not doing enough to discourage what he describes as an unnecessary military buildup.
“What is happening is a very alarming process,” Putin said. Alaska, then South Korea, these are the sites where the anti-missile system is being built. And should we just sit and wait? No. We are thinking of how to respond to these challenges, because for us, these are challenges.”
Those comments irked Alaska Republican Senator Dan Sullivan, a vocal supporter of the missile defense system who often criticizes Russia’s sometimes aggressive tactics in the Arctic and elsewhere.
Sullivan said the U.S.’s superior technology in shooting down a test missile is what rattled Putin, whom Sullivan said is wrong to characterize the interceptors as anything but protective.
“These systems certainly don’t undermine the strategic balance in the world, as President Putin inaccurately claims,” Sullivan said. “And my view is we should continue to bolster these missile defense capabilities in the region of South Korea and Japan, and in Alaska, to protect our citizens and our allies, and that’s what we intend to do.”
Sullivan, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, has called for more missile interceptors and a faster pace for their development.
Casey Grove is host of Alaska News Nightly, a general assignment reporter and an editor at Alaska Public Media. Reach him atcgrove@alaskapublic.org. Read more about Caseyhere.
