Russia Fears US Nuclear Threat

Russia warns that US missiles based in Europe are increasing the risk of a nuclear war

By Dailymail.com Reporter 11:56 EDT 28 Mar 2017, updated 13:06 EDT 28 Mar 2017

Russia warned US deployment of THAAD was a threat to world security

It also warned that the anti-missile system would spark a new arms race

US has deployed THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) missile system in South Korea in response to North Korea's provocative ballistic missile tests

Russia has warned the US deployment of an anti-missile system will spark a new arms race and was a threat to world security designed to contain Russia and China.

The US has deployed its THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) missile system in South Korea in response to North Korea's increasingly provocative ballistic missile tests.

It is designed to shoot down short, medium and intermediate range ballistic missiles.

The reclusive state has conducted five nuclear tests and a series of missile launches in defiance of UN resolutions.

Shoots down short and medium-range ballistic missiles in the terminal phase of their flight

• Uses hit-to-kill technology - where kinetic energy destroys the incoming warhead
• Has a range of 200km and can reach an altitude of 150km
• US has previously deployed it in Guam and Hawaii as a measure against potential attacks from North Korea

Viktor Poznikhir told a disarmament conference in Genev: 'The presence of the global ABM [anti-ballistic missile] system lowers the threshold for the use of nuclear weapons, because it gives the US the illusion of impunity for using strategic offensive weapons from under the protection of the ABM "umbrella".

'The ABM shield is a symbol of the build-up of rocket forces in the world and a trigger for a new arms race.'

The Russian defence ministry also said it regarded US naval patrols in the Black Sea as a potential threat to its safety, because it was unclear what kind of missiles the ships were carrying.

Russia, which illegally annexed Ukraine's Crimea in 2014, has its own Black Sea Fleet based at Sevastopol.

THAAD is designed to shoot down short, medium and intermediate range ballistic missiles
Earlier this month, North Korea fired ballistic missiles that landed in the sea less than 200 miles off the northwestern coast of Japan.

The incident was one of the numerous military tests conducted by the despotic state, which has expanded its ballistic and nuclear missile capability in the wake of what it views as US and South Korean aggression.

Pyongyang insists that it needs nuclear weapons for self-defence against 'hostile enemies'.

South Korean and U.S. troops began the large-scale joint drills on March 1 that the North calls an invasion rehearsal.

US moves parts of missile defence equipment to South Korea