US Missile Defense System Provokes New Arms Race - Russian Ministry of Defense

© REUTERS / USFK/YonhapA Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) interceptor arrives at Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, in this handout picture provided by the United States Forces Korea (USFK) and released by Yonhap on March 7, 2017. Picture taken on March 6, 2017
A Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) interceptor arrives at Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, in this handout picture provided by the United States Forces Korea (USFK) and released by Yonhap on March 7, 2017. Picture taken on March 6, 2017 - Sputnik International
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The Russian General Staff stated Tuesday that the missile defense system deployed by the US provokes new arms race.

According to Deputy Chief the Main Operations Directorate of the General Staff Viktor Poznikhir, the deployment destroys international security systems, adding that the US wants to gain control by deterring Russia and China.

South Korean protesters stage a rally to oppose a plan to deploy an advanced U.S. missile defense system called Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, in front of the Defense Ministry in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2017 - Sputnik International
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"Ballistic missile defence is a symbol for building the capacity of missile assets in the world and thereby provoking a new arms race," Poznikhir said at the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva.

He added that the existence of the US global missile defense system lowers the threshold of nuclear arms use, because it gives the United States an illusion of impunity.

"The existence of a global missile defense system lowers the threshold of nuclear arms use, because the illusion of impunity of a sudden use of strategic nuclear weapons under an umbrella of a missile defense is being created in the Unites States."

In July 2016, Washington and Seoul reached an agreement on placing a US Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system on South Korean soil. In early March, the THAAD deployment began in response to North Korea's ballistic missile tests.

The system is designed to intercept short, medium and intermediate ballistic missiles at the terminal incoming stage.

A THAAD battery consists of six truck-mounted launchers, 48 interceptors, a mobile control and communications center and an AN/TPY-2 radar.

Earlier head of the Russian Foreign Ministry Department for Non-Proliferation and Arms Control Mikhail Ulyanov stated that Russia and China are increasing security cooperation amid the deployment of US missile defense system in South Korea.

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