21 March 2015
Denmark could face nuclear attack if joins missile shield
By Staff Writers
Space War

Bulgaria gives green light to NATO command centre Sofia (AFP) March 20, 2015 - Bulgaria cleared the way Friday for a new NATO command centre in the former Warsaw Pact country to shore up the eastern flank of the alliance against Russian "aggression". The centre is one of six being set up over the next year by the alliance alongside the creation of a rapid reaction force of 5,000 troops in response to Russia's alleged actions in Ukraine. The former communist country had banned its military from working under international command on its own soil, but parliament passed an amendment Friday lifting the obstacle. Half of the 40 staff at the new centre in the capital Sofia will be Bulgarian. Adrian Bradshaw, deputy NATO supreme commander in Europe, said Tuesday that the centre will coordinate "the forces of different countries taking part in military exercises in Bulgaria... It is not a combat unit, it is a staff headquarters." To avoid unduly provoking Moscow, ground troops for the new force with be stationed further to the west, but will be able to be deployed quickly in former Eastern Bloc countries who are now members of the alliance. A new NATO communications centre at Gorna Malina, 20 kilometres (12 miles) east of Sofia, will open before the end of the year, Defence Minister Nikolay Nentchev said. A NATO naval information exchange centre being built in Bulgaria's Black Sea port Varna will open next year, the country's military said. Bulgaria jointed NATO in 2004. The five other new command centres are to be in Poland, Romania and the Baltic countries.

Copenhagen (AFP) - Russia's ambassador to Denmark said Saturday that the NATO country's navy could be targeted by nuclear missiles if it joins the Western alliance's anti-missile shield.

The threat made by Ambassador Mikhail Vanin in an opinion piece he wrote for the Danish daily Jyllands-Posten sparked an angry reaction and came amid an increasingly Cold War-style standoff between Moscow and the West.

"I do not think that the Danes fully understand the consequences of what happens if Denmark joins the US-led missile defence," Ambassador Mikhail Vanin wrote in the daily.

"If this happens Danish warships become targets for Russian nuclear missiles."

Russia has long opposed NATO's missile shield -- launched in 2010 and due to be fully operational by 2025 -- in which member countries contribute radar and weaponry to protect Europe against missile attacks.

Denmark has pledged to supply one or more frigates equipped with advanced radar to track incoming missiles.

The chairwoman of the Danish parliament's foreign affairs, Mette Gjerskov told AFP that the comments were "very threatening and not necessary" as the missile shield was simply an "intruder alarm" and no danger to Russia.

"This is a way of escalating the verbal tone between Russia and NATO," she said, adding that the comments were also aimed at Russian public opinion.

"But it doesn't change the fact that we're not afraid."

Denmark's Foreign Minister Martin Lidegaard said the remarks were "unacceptable rhetoric" and "completely out of proportion".

"One should not threaten such serious things as the ambassador has done here," he told news agency Ritzau.

Tensions between Russia and the Nordic countries have risen in recent years with reports of increased Russian airforce incursions in the Baltic region.

Holger K. Nielsen, defence spokesman for the Socialist People's Party, which is opposed to Denmark's involvement in the NATO shield, called the ambassador's comments "crazy".

"His opinion is based on the assumption that a war has broken out and in that case Denmark, as a member of NATO, would already be a target," he told Jyllands-Posten.

NATO's European missile defence system is headquartered in Ramstein Germany since 2012.

It includes US missile destroying warships in Spain, Patriot anti-missile systems in Turkey, ship borne radar systems carried by several member countries and planned missile interceptors in Romania.