Putin: Russia may Aim Nukes at Ukraine

[unhappycamper]

Putin: Russia may Aim Nukes at Ukraine
Associated Press | February 12, 2008

MOSCOW - Russia could aim nuclear weapons at Ukraine if the former Soviet republic joins NATO and accepts the deployment of anti-missile defenses on its territory, President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday.

Putin spoke at a news conference in Moscow after four hours of talks with Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko, who has said joining the Western alliance is a priority for his country.

"That of course is Ukraine's internal process ... and we don't have the right, and we won't, interfere in this process," Putin said. But, he added, "that raises the question for Russia of the need for retaliatory actions."

"It's frightening not just to talk about, but even to think about, that in response to such deployment, the possibility of such deployments - and one can't theoretically exclude these deployments - that Russia will have to point its warheads at Ukrainian territory," he said.

The warning was Putin's strongest to date about Kiev's efforts to join the Western alliance.


Rest of article at: http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,161918,00.html