MOSCOW, Feb. 8 (UPI) -- Prominent Russian experts Thursday warned that the United States was starting to treat Russia as a potential enemy.
"We can see that Russia is increasingly perceived (by the United States) as a potential foe," Sergei Markov, director of the Institute for Political Research, told the RIA Novosti news agency. "We can see that Russia is increasingly perceived (by the United States) as a potential foe," he said.
Vasily Likhachev, deputy head of the International Affairs Committee in the Federation Council, the upper house of the Russian parliament, told RIA Novosti the deployment of U.S. missile shields close to Russian borders was intended as a political weapon against his country.
"It is not as much about the (George W.) Bush Administration's self-promotion to boost ratings as it is about (creating) a system of ideological and political pressure on Russia and its allies," he said. "Is it the 'Cold War' in a 21st-century packaging, or just some elements of it? That's a subject for further reflection. But this much is clear: the West is not ready for full-fledged cooperation with Russia."
Leonid Ivashov, vice president of the Academy of Geopolitical Problems, told RIA Novosti he believed the Bush administration was conducting an offensive against Russia's strategic interests. "He specifically cited the deployment of U.S. interceptor missiles around Russia's borders and the creation of a radar and space reconnaissance system," the Russian news agency said.
"The Americans withdrew from the ABM (Anti-Ballistic Missile) treaty precisely to restore full control over the strategic nuclear potentials of Russia and China," Ivashov said.
Ivashov said Russia had to neutralize the U.S. threat. Otherwise, he said, "Russia may end up cornered in the north, and it will become a tiny Nordic country."
