Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly warned against using a missile defense shield built to counter a hypothetical attack by North Korea as a justification for a conflict with the United States.
Putin’s warning in a televised address Monday was an acknowledgment of the difficulties of deploying such a system on an existing land-based system.
Putin has said that such a deployment would be suicidal and would lead to the destruction of the United Nations, NATO and other global organizations.
The United States and its allies, meanwhile, have said the system would be a major deterrent against an imminent attack by the North Korean regime.
On Tuesday, the United Kingdom announced it would build a $3.6 billion missile defense battery at RAF Lossiemouth in Scotland.
The Pentagon announced a similar defense battery was being built in France, with the aim of countering North Korean missiles in Europe.
Russia has built a network of nearly 3,000 separate interceptors around the country and has a network in place of the missile defense systems, known as the Zapad system, which it uses in the Baltics.