United States national missile defense

Patriot missiles deployed in Turkey since 2013 to guard against rockets from Syria will be removed for planned upgrades in October, despite the ongoing crisis across the border, the Pentagon said on Oct.1.

The United States announced on Aug. 16 that it had informed the Turkish government that the U.S. deployment of Patriot air and missile defense units in Turkey, which expires in October, will not be renewed. The announcement came one day after Germany also said it would pull its Patriot missile batteries from southern Turkey.

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on Tuesday that the country will boost its nuclear forces with forty new intercontinental ballistic missiles.

Putin stated that the missiles will be capable to overcome even the most technically sophisticated missile defence system, TASS news agency reports.

The United States gives importance to the ?quality of Turkish democracy? not just in political and economic terms, but also as a security issue, said Victoria Nuland, the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs, following high level contacts in Turkey on April 16, ahead of a NATO meeting in May and Turkish elections in June.

US Assistant Secretary for Arms Control, Verification and Compliance Frank A. Rose on Monday said in Bucharest, that the ambassador of the Russian Federation in Romania, Oleg Malginov is ?wrong' when saying that the anti-missile system implemented by the United States of America is a threat and a challenge to Moscow, as this has no capacity to harm Russia's strategic deterrent potential.

Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bogdan Aurescu, on Saturday, on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference on international security policy, had a meeting with Ellen Tauscher, Vice President of the Brent Scowcroft Center for International Security, also a member in the Executive Committee of the Atlantic Council of the United States and chief negotiator for the Agreement between Romania and t

Leaders of all parliamentary parties on Tuesday are to sign a political agreement ensuing that at least 2 per cent of Gross Domestic Product, GDP, will go on the defence budget by 2017.

The move follows the initiative of Romania's new President, Klaus Iohan, who has set increased defence spending as a priority.

The missile shield in Deveselu is a concern for Moscow as it is a guarantee that Romania will not return to another influence sphere, said, on Tuesday, Minister of Foreign Affairs Bogdan Aurescu.

State Secretary for Strategic Affairs Bogdan Aurescu on Tuesday reiterated Romania's interest that local firms get involved in the setting up of the Deveselu Base.

Aurescu attended the 2014 Multinational Ballistic Missile Defence Conference organized by the U.S. Agency for Ballistic Missile Defense and hosted by Bucharest.