Kremlin calls Trump’s Golden Dome plan ‘sovereign matter’ in tone shift
The Kremlin said Wednesday that Donald Trump’s plan for a “Golden Dome” missile shield required consultations with Russia but was otherwise a “sovereign matter” for the United States, softening its tone after previously slamming the idea as destabilizing.
The proposal, which Trump ordered a week after his inauguration in January, would see Washington deploy missile interceptors in space to protect against ballistic and hypersonic threats.
Unveiling new details on initial funding for the project on Tuesday, Trump called it “important for the success and even survival of our country.”
“This is a sovereign matter for the United States. If the United States believes that there is a missile threat, then of course it will develop a missile defence system,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters including AFP on Wednesday.
“That is what all countries do,” he added.
“Of course, in the foreseeable future, the course of events will require the resumption of contacts to restore strategic stability,” he added, referring to broader nuclear talks.
Peskov’s comments came two days after a call between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin that the US leader said “went very well.”
Since taking office, Trump has sought to warm ties with the Kremlin, reaching out to Putin directly in a bid to broker an end to the three-year Ukraine conflict.
Russia previously denounced the Golden Dome plan, warning it risked turning space into a “battlefield.”
In a joint statement with China earlier this month, both countries denounced the idea as “deeply destabilizing.”
The plan’s Golden Dome name stems from Israel’s Iron Dome air defence system which has intercepted thousands of short-range rockets and other projectiles since it went into operation in 2011.
Washington faces various missile threats from adversaries, but they differ significantly from the short-range weapons that Israel’s Iron Dome is designed to counter.
Beijing, which has deepened cooperation with Moscow in recent years, on Wednesday described Trump’s plans as a threat to international security.
Russia and the United States have the world’s two largest arsenals of nuclear warheads.
