Cold War, Part 2? (Updated)

"President Vladimir V. Putin said today that Russia would suspend its compliance with a treaty on conventional arms in Europe that was forged at the end of the cold war," the Times is reporting.

"Instead, Mr. Putin said, the Kremlin would use its future compliance with the treaty as a bargaining point in the dispute with United States over American proposals to install missile defenses in Europe."

Though the step by Mr. Putin was an incremental one, it was highly symbolic. The agreement in question, the Treaty on Conventional Armed
Forces in Europe, known by the initials C.F.E., was signed in 1990 by the N.A.T.O. nations and the nations of the former Warsaw Pact, including Russia. It required the reduction and relocation of much of the main battle equipment then located along the former east-west dividing line, including tanks, artillery pieces, armored vehicles and attack aircraft. It also established an inspection regime.

*Under the treaty, more than 50,000 pieces of military equipment were converted or destroyed by 1995. With its initial ambitions largely achieved, it was renegotiated in 1999, adding a requirement that Russia withdraw its forces from Georgia and Moldova, two former Soviet republics where tensions and intrigue with Moscow run high. *

Russia has not withdrawn its troops, and the revised treaty has not been ratified by most of the signatory nations, including the United
States, which has withheld ratification until the Kremlin complies with the troop-withdrawal commitments.

Though in many ways the treaty had already stalled, it remained a powerful diplomatic marker, a central element in the group of agreements that defused the threat of war in Europe as communism collapsed.

In very much related news, Inside Defense is reporting that "U.S. and European officials at NATO headquarters in Brussels are quietly drawing up plans to integrate the systems into an alliance-wide antimissile shield capable of protecting the entire continent."

UPDATE: What, exactly, has Vlad & co. so freaked out? The shape and size of the European missile defense plan is still very much in flux. But Missile Defense Agency officials have been passing around this semi-handy chart. According to missile guru Victoria Samson, the idea is roughly to:

* Build a new two-stage missile interceptor based -- to what extent, it's unclear -- on the Ground-based Midcourse Defense interceptors installed in Alaska. 10 of those would be based in Poland by about 2012.*** Bring an X-band radar from Kwajalein that had been used in GMD flight tests to the Czech
Republic, again roughly by 2012.