Gates Notes Ukraine’s Progress, Hopes for Change in Russia

The secretary emphasized that one of the main reasons he made the trip to Tallinn was to support the countries of the region who wish to more fully integrate with the West. “These nations are, quite understandably, on edge due to Russia’s incursion into Georgia last summer,” Gates said.

The secretary called Russia’s more recent behavior troubling as well. Within hours of the conclusion of the recent U.S. presidential election, Russian President Dmitriy Medvedev threatened in a speech to put weapons in Kaliningrad – a small sliver of Russia on the Baltic Sea between Poland and Lithuania. The speech was “hardly the welcome that a new American administration deserves,” Gates said. “Such provocative remarks are unnecessary and misguided.”

“After all, the only real emerging threat on Russia’s periphery is in Iran. I don’t think the Iskander missile has the range to get there from Kaliningrad. Why they would threaten to point missiles at European nations seems quite puzzling to me.”

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