VOA慢速英语--Putin Says Russia Could Target US if New Missiles Put in Europe

 

President Vladimir Putin says Russia is prepared to target American “decision-making centers” if the United States sends new missiles to Europe.

The Russian leader spoke¹ Wednesday during his state-of-the-nation address in Moscow. He said Russia would answer any U.S. move to deploy² new missiles closer to Russia by stationing its own new missiles closer to America or by deploying³ faster missiles.

Putin said Russia does not plan to be the first to deploy new intermediate-range nuclear missiles. But he warned of possible action against new U.S. nuclear missile deployments in Europe that would put the weapons much closer to Russia.

“They will only take 10-12 minutes to reach Moscow,” Putin said. “It’s a very serious threat to us, and we will have to respond.”

He said Russia could deploy new weapons of its own that would be designed to reach enemy targets just as quickly.

“Russia will be forced to create and deploy new types of weapons that could be used not only against the territories where a direct threat to us comes from, but also against the territories where decision-making centers directing the use of missile systems threatening us are located,” he said.

In his address, Putin also spoke about the U.S. plan to withdraw from the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty, or INF. American president Ronald Reagan and Soviet⁵ leader Mikhail Gorbachev signed the treaty in 1987. It banned the production, testing and deployment⁴ of land-based missiles with a range of 500 to 5,500 kilometers.

Intermediate-range weapons were seen as especially dangerous because they reach their targets much faster than long-range missiles. An attack with intermediate-range missiles would leave effectively no time for decision-makers to react, raising the possibility of a world nuclear conflict over a false launch warning.

The U.S. has accused Russia of violating the INF treaty by deploying a kind of missile that violates its limits.

Putin said the U.S. accusations⁶ were “unfounded” and were used to “justify⁷ (America’s) withdrawal⁸ from the treaty.” He added that the move will also give the U.S. the chance to build and deploy new missiles.

The president did not explain how or where Russia planned to deploy missiles with a shorter strike time. One possibility would be to put them on land of an ally near U.S. territory.

Russia could also deploy faster missiles on submarines, or use one of the hypersonic weapons it says it has been developing. Such weapons are called hypersonic because they operate at an extremely high speed. They can travel as fast as several times the speed of sound.

Putin said a new submarine designed to carry an underwater drone with nuclear strike capability⁹ - called Poseidon - would be launched this spring.

I’m Bryan Lynn.

Words in This Story

intermediate – adj. between the highest and lowest levels of something

respond – v. say or do something as an answer or reaction to something that has been said or done

located – v. to be in a particular place

justify – v. give a good reason to make something seem acceptable

drone – n. a kind of small air vehicle that flies without a pilot

1 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

2 deploy   

v.（军）散开成战斗队形，布置，展开

参考例句：

• The infantry began to deploy at dawn.步兵黎明时开始进入战斗位置。
• The president said he had no intention of deploying ground troops.总统称并不打算部署地面部队。

3 deploying   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的现在分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Provides support for developing and deploying distributed, component-based applications. 为开发和部署基于组件的分布式应用程序提供支持。
• Advertisement, publishing, repair, and install-on-demand are all available when deploying your application. 在部署应用程序时提供公布、发布、修复和即需即装功能。

4 deployment   

n. 部署,展开

参考例句：

• He has inquired out the deployment of the enemy troops. 他已查出敌军的兵力部署情况。
• Quality function deployment (QFD) is a widely used customer-driven quality, design and manufacturing management tool. 质量功能展开(quality function deployment,QFD)是一个广泛应用的顾客需求驱动的设计、制造和质量管理工具。

5 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

6 accusations   

n.指责( accusation的名词复数 )；指控；控告；（被告发、控告的）罪名

参考例句：

• There were accusations of plagiarism. 曾有过关于剽窃的指控。
• He remained unruffled by their accusations. 对于他们的指控他处之泰然。

7 justify   

vt.证明…正当(或有理)，为…辩护

参考例句：

• He tried to justify his absence with lame excuses.他想用站不住脚的借口为自己的缺席辩解。
• Can you justify your rude behavior to me?你能向我证明你的粗野行为是有道理的吗？

8 withdrawal   

n.取回，提款；撤退，撤军；收回，撤销

参考例句：

• The police were forced to make a tactical withdrawal.警方被迫进行战术撤退。
• They insisted upon a withdrawal of the statement and a public apology.他们坚持要收回那些话并公开道歉。

9 capability   

n.能力；才能；(pl)可发展的能力或特性等

参考例句：

• She has the capability to become a very fine actress.她有潜力成为杰出演员。
• Organizing a whole department is beyond his capability.组织整个部门是他能力以外的事。