US Plans To Destroy Missiles Prior To Launch Dangerous - Russian Foreign Ministry

The idea voiced by the Pentagon to neutralize offensive missile threats prior to launch means a preventive strike, such logic has often brought the world to the brink of disaster, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement Friday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 18th January, 2019) The idea voiced by the Pentagon to neutralize offensive missile threats prior to launch means a preventive strike, such logic has often brought the world to the brink of disaster, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement Friday.

The US 2019 Missile Defense Review (MDR) presented Thursday in particular says a comprehensive approach to missile defense "integrates offensive and defensive capabilities for deterrence, and includes active defense to intercept missiles in all phases of flight after launch, passive defense to mitigate the effects of missile attack, and attack operations during a conflict to neutralize offensive missile threats prior to launch.

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"It is noteworthy that the United States ranked preventive destruction of missiles threatening it prior to launch among legitimate methods of missile defense... This... wording... means delivering preventive 'disarming' strikes on the territory of countries that the United States considers its adversaries," the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

"It was precisely this logic that originally underlay a large-scale nuclear-missile arms race, which has more than once brought the world to the brink of disaster," it said.