- US may hold fire on ‘non-threatening’ N Korea missiles
Leaders and foreign ministers from across Central and Eastern Europe have implored U.S. President-elect Donald Trump to stand behind Ukraine in its struggle against Russia’s annexation of Crimea and support for separatists in eastern Ukraine.
“Vladimir Putin is not America’s ally,” 17 current and former heads of state and foreign ministers wrote in an open letter to Trump dated Monday. “Neither is he a trustworthy international partner.”
The Obama administration issued a new round of sanctions last month targeting Russian officials and businesses connected to the Crimean takeover and support for separatists. Because those and earlier sanctions were issued by executive order, Trump could choose to revoke them when he takes office next week.
“It would be a grave mistake to end the current sanctions on Russia or accept the division and subjugation of Ukraine,” the European leaders wrote, warning that to do so would demoralize America’s allies in the region and destabilize their economies.
In the broader picture, they wrote, “the aftershocks of such a deal would shake American credibility with allies in Europe and elsewhere.”
Trump has frequently praised Putin’s leadership, and his nominee for secretary of state, former ExxonMobil Chief Executive Rex Tillerson, has expressed opposition to sanctions on Russia, where ExxonMobil has business ties.
The letter is similar to one that was sent to Barack Obama shortly after he took office in January 2009, which expressed concern that “Central and Eastern European countries are no longer at the heart of American foreign policy.”
“Russia is back as a revisionist power pursuing a 19th-century agenda with 21st-century tactics and methods,” that letter said.
In the meantime, US Defence Secretary Ash Carter has said the US would not necessarily shoot down a North Korean missile, if it was not threatening.
He said the US military would want to gather intelligence from the missile’s flight instead of intercepting it.
Mr Carter’s remarks follow President-elect Donald Trump’s Twitter comments on North Korea’s nuclear ambitions.
Mr Trump had said the North’s development of a nuclear missile that could reach the US “won’t happen”.
He did not elaborate how he would stop such plans.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un had claimed in his New Year’s Day address that his country had reached the final stages in developing a long-range nuclear missile.
Mr Carter said on Tuesday in his final press briefing that if a North Korean long-range missile is ever deemed to be threatening, “it will be intercepted”.
“If it’s not threatening, we won’t necessarily do so. Because it may be more to our advantage to, first of all, save our interceptor inventory, and, second, to gather intelligence from the flight.”
Mr Carter is due to step down as Pentagon chief when President Barack Obama’s administration ends on 20 January.
But the top US military officer, Marine General Joseph Dunford, who will remain as Mr Trump’s top uniformed military advisor and was at the event, agreed with Mr Carter.
On Sunday, North Korean state news agency KCNA quoted a foreign ministry spokesman as saying that a missile “will be launched anytime and anywhere” as determined by Pyongyang, despite efforts by the US to contain them.
North Korea has conducted two nuclear tests over the last year – five in total – raising fears that it has made significant nuclear advances.
It has never successfully test-fired long-range missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads, but experts estimate it may be able to do so within five years.
UN resolutions have repeatedly called for an end to the country’s nuclear and missile tests.
NBC with additional report from BBC
