Germany and the USA have decided to station long-range weapons in the Federal Republic. According to the Kremlin, this is a step towards the Cold War.
The USA will station cruise missiles and other long-range weapons in Germany from 2026. Russia had already announced counter-measures. Now Putin’s press spokesman says: This is a step towards a Cold War.
According to the Russian news agency Tass, Dmitry Peskov said: “We are steadily taking steps towards the Cold War.” He accused the US, Germany, France and Great Britain of direct involvement “in the conflict around Ukraine.” “All the features of the Cold War with direct confrontation are returning,” Peskov added.
At the NATO summit, Germany and the USA jointly announced the stationing of new weapons on German soil. “The United States of America will temporarily station long-range weapons systems from its Multi-Domain Task Force in Germany, starting in 2026, as part of planning for their future permanent stationing,” said the statement from both governments published on Wednesday evening.
“When fully developed, these conventional units will include SM-6, Tomahawks and hypersonic weapons currently under development.” The new systems would have significantly greater ranges than the current land-based systems in Europe. Hypersonic weapons fly particularly fast, and Russia also has these supersonic missiles. You can read more about the weapon systems here.
The background to the American-German decision is that Western countries see Russia as an increasing threat following its attack on Ukraine. The Russian deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov, was quoted by Russian state media on Thursday as saying that a military response to the planned deployment would be developed. The US’s aim is to undermine Russia’s security. NATO accuses Russia of massive rearmament.
