Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova denounced the Nov. 16 missile defense test, in which a ship-based Standard Missile (SM)-3 Block IIA missile was used to intercept an ICBM target over the Pacific Ocean as “further evidence of Washington’s dangerous and destabilising policy on anti-missile defense issues and their apparent anti-Russia nature,” during her weekly briefing yesterday.
“For years our U.S. colleagues have assured us that U.S. Standard Missile systems, including the above, are technically not designed to intercept Russian ICBMs and that they need a global anti-missile defense system exclusively to counter supposed limited regional threats, the Iranian issue, for example,” she continued. “However, this current test directly illustrates the misleading nature of U.S. assurances that its global anti-missile defense system is not directed against Russia. This is direct proof and a clear example of how Washington has manipulated public opinion in its own country, lied to its international partners, and based its actions in the international arena on absolutely made-up pretexts.”
