Hotter than Cold War
Is Russia Threatening to NUKE POLAND?

Russia threatens nuclear attack on Poland over US missile shield deal
By Harry de Quetteville and Andrew Pierce

Russia threatened a nuclear strike against Poland after a landmark deal to site American global anti-missile shields in the country.

Only 24 hours after the weapons agreement was signed Russia's deputy chief of staff warned Poland "is exposing itself to a strike 100 per cent".

General Anatoly Nogovitsyn said that any new US assets in Europe could come under Russian nuclear attack with his forces targeting "the allies of countries having nuclear weapons".

He told Russia's Interfax news agency: "By hosting these, Poland is making itself a target. This is 100 per cent certain. It becomes a target for attack. Such targets are destroyed as a first priority."

Russia's nuclear rhetoric marks an intense new phase in the war of words over Georgia. The Caucasus conflict has spiralled into a Cold War style confrontation between Moscow and Washington in less than a week.

The stand off between the two cold War powers was underlined by Russian president Dmitry Medvedev, who dismissed US claims that the silo is a deterrent against 'rogue states' like Iran as "a fairy tale". He told reporters at the Black Sea resort of Sochi: "The deployment of new missile defence facilities in Europe is aimed against the Russian Federation."

President George W. Bush in a brief but pointed statement earlier in the day said: "The Cold War is over… Bullying and intimidation are not acceptable ways to conduct foreign policy in the 21st century."

Mr Bush, who is demanding an immediate withdrawal of Russian troops from Georgia now that that a ceasefire deal has been signed, added: "Only Russia can decide whether it will now put itself back on the path of responsible nations or continue to pursue a policy that promises only confrontation and isolation,"

Russia's deteriorating relationship with the West was strained further when US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice yesterday visited Georgian capital Tbilisi and concluded a ceasefire deal with Russia. It was the highest profile gesture of American political support for Georgia's embattled government since the conflict began.

Echoing President Bush's demands for a withdrawal from Georgia, she evoked the Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia 40 years ago. "Russian forces need to leave Georgia at once. This is no longer 1968,"she said.

Mikheil Saakashvili, the Georgian president, who was standing next to Miss Rice, said: "We were screaming to the world that Russia was going to do this...We are looking evil directly in the eye - this evil is very dangerous not only for us but for everybody."

Even as he was speaking a convoy of 17 Russian armoured personnel carriers was spotted advancing along the main highway to within 34 miles of the Georgian capital Tblisi, their deepest move yet inside the country.

The Foreign Office also condemned Russia. A spokesman said: "Threats such as these against our EU and Nato Allies are completely unacceptable and unhelpful, especially at the present time''.

The criticism was echoed by MPs, who warned of the potential for a major escalation in the diplomatic crisis.

But there was no word from either Gordon Brown or David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, on the nuclear issue, who were earlier both criticised for not speaking out sooner over the situation in Georgia.

David Cameron, the Tory leader, will today seize the initiative by travel to Georgia, where he is expected to warn Russia to respect its neighbour's territorial integrity.

Poland and the United States reached the agreement, after 18 months of negotiation, on siting 10 interceptor missiles capable of destroying incoming long-range ballistic missiles. Washington says the system, which would be installed by 2012, is designed to protect the US and its allies from "rogue states" such as Iran. The threat of nuclear reprisals were motivated by Moscow's fears the missile shield makes Russia a target of the United States.

Radek Sikorski, the Polish foreign minister, told The Daily Telegraph the new US missile shield deal, and its timing, was unrelated to Georgia. "It [the deal] is a coincidence," he said. "Georgia made a dramatic backdrop to it, but the timing had nothing to do with Georgia. We have offered Russia the right to inspect at any time. It only has the capabilities we say it does, which is to say, nothing to do with Russia."

Donald Tusk, the Polish prime minister, hinted that the US had pledged to back Warsaw in the event of Russian aggression towards Poland. He said that he only agreed to host the US defence shield on the condition that the US agreed to help augment Poland's defences with Patriot missiles, which are intended to ward off any threat from Russia. "We have crossed the Rubicon," he said.