Russian military commentator Col. (res.) Viktor Baranetz, a former Russian Defense Ministry spokesman, said that Russia should deploy Caliber cruise missiles to Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela in order to defend the democracy and sovereignty of these nations and to aim the missiles "at America's fat ass." He was commenting on possible Russian actions against the backdrop of the ongoing debate in the U.S. regarding deployment of American troops to Ukraine. His statements aired on the Russian MoD TV channel Zvezda TV on June 26.
The following are excerpts from his statements.
To view this clip on MEMRI TV, click here
Viktor Baranetz: "If the U.S. deploys major [ground] forces [in Ukraine] – even though some troops are already present there, working 24/7 for the past couple of years... If major contingents are deployed there, the Kremlin and Russia in general apparently will not applaud it, because this raises a question regarding a growing threat on the part of Ukraine, with the assistance of the U.S. government. Of course, we will express our concerns, pointing out that Ukraine should act according to its own constitution, which, to the best of my knowledge, prohibits permanent foreign military forces on Ukrainian soil. What this means is that the Ukrainian government is consciously violating its own constitution. So what does this mean with regard to Russia?
"Of course, if U.S. military forces are deployed to Ukraine, Russia will have to take this into consideration and take certain measures. Some obvious measures have been necessary for a long time.
"If the U.S. acts in such an unfriendly way toward Russia, nobody will prevent Russia from deploying similar amounts of troops to Cuba, Venezuela, or Nicaragua, for the sake of defending their democracy and sovereignty. Indeed, it won't be the same as in 1962 again – we won't deploy intercontinental ballistic missiles in those countries.
"It's enough for us to deploy a couple of dozen Caliber [cruise missiles] there. It will be enough to point this super-high-precision weapon at America's fat ass. The deployment of even a limited number of military units in the American continent is a normal symmetrical response. It's time to start preparing that response."
