PRESS RELEASE

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General Kujat: NATO Should Not Produce a New Arms Race

WIESBADEN, May 13, 2016 (EIRNS)—In two interviews yesterday, former NATO Military Committee head (2002-2005) Gen. Harald Kujat (retired) emphasized that proceeding with NATO’s Missile Defense System on the borders of Russia will lead to a (nuclear) arms race.

In the Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung, Kujat stated "The escalation spiral must not continue," and said trust with Russia must be quickly reestablished; and for that,

"U.S. President Barack Obama must sit at the table and negotiate on a level playing field with Russian President Vladimir Putin."

The next occasion, he said, should be at the July NATO Summit in Warsaw.

General Kujat often limits the content of his public utterances to reflect a consensus in the German military leadership, and appears publicly at moments, as now, when the evaluation is things could escalate out of control, even up to the level of strategic nuclear brinkmanship with Russia.

In a May 12 radio interview with state-owned TV-Radio in Leipzig he didn’t challenge the need or justification for NATO to build such systems, but asked, "What are the consequences and what are the Russian fears?" When asked why not just bring in the Russians for a joint project, to end the tensions, General Kujat replied, "You are absolutely right, and that is a decisive point." As chairman of the NATO Military Committee, Kujat had done that, but Russia was expelled from that committee in 2013.

The NATO-Russia Committee is not being used effectively, Kujat said. Regarding the use of the NATO anti-missle facility, he emphasized that as a facility with NATO command, its use is determined by the 28 members and not the United States alone. He added that the facility is not capable of stopping a Russian second strike; but if mutual understanding is not achieved, we go into an armaments spiral.