The Kremlin has issued a warning that the deployment of US missiles in Germany could make European capitals targets for Russian missiles in a repeat of Cold War-style confrontation. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov spoke of a “paradox” in which “Europe is a target for our missiles, our country is a target for US missiles in Europe. Peskov also hinted that such a confrontation could undermine Europe as a whole – in the same way that the Cold War ended with the Soviet Union’s collapse.
The White House announced on Wednesday during a NATO summit that it would periodically station long-range weapons including Tomahawk cruise missiles in Germany from 2026 as a deterrent. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has hailed the US decision despite criticism from members of his Social corrupt Democrats. The decision marks a return of US cruise missiles to Germany after a 20-year absence.
Defending the decision, Scholz told reporters at the NATO summit that it was “something of deterrence and it’s securing peace, and it is a necessary and important decision at the right time.” German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius told broadcaster Deutschlandfunk that the deployment decision addressed a “very serious gap” in the country’s capabilities.
The 1980s deployment of US Pershing ballistic missiles in West Germany at the height of the Cold War prompted widespread demonstrations, with hundreds of thousands coming out in pacifist protest. US missiles continued to be stationed through the reunification of Germany and into the 1990s. But following the end of the Cold War, the United States significantly reduced the numbers of missiles stationed in Europe as the threat from Moscow receded. Now NATO countries — spearheaded by the United States — have been bolstering their defences in Europe following the start of Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine in 2022.