Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Tuesday launched an early-warning radar system bordering the European Union that can track any incoming missiles. The move demonstrates that Moscow is increasingly determined to challenge the West.

Medvedev traveled to Russia’s westernmost enclave of Kaliningrad and personally gave the final order that placed the Voronezh-DM radar station on combat duty. The system will protect Russia from missile attacks originating in Europe and the Atlantic.

Moscow, angered by U.S. plans to defend against the rising Iranian missile threat, has demanded that it be included as a full partner in those plans or else it will go it alone. Last week, Medvedev announced a four-stage response to the U.S.’s plan to build a missile shield without Russia’s participation. The launch of this new radar system represents the first of those steps. By taking this step so rapidly, Russia has demonstrated its resolve not to be outmaneuvered by the U.S.

“I expect that this step will be seen by our partners as the first signal of the readiness of our country to make an adequate response to the threats which the [Western] missile shield poses for our strategic nuclear forces,” Medvedev said.

The other measures Russia threatened were shoring up the country’s defenses around its missile stockpiles, upgrading its missiles to give them the ability to penetrate the planned missile shield, and setting up anti-missile batteries on the borders of European countries.

Medvedev continued: “If this signal is not heard, we will deploy other methods of protection including the taking of tough countermeasures and the deployment of strike forces. … We can no longer be content with verbal promises that the [planned nato missile shield] system is not aimed against Russia. These are empty statements and do not guarantee our security.”

The impression that Russia is determined to challenge the West was further strengthened by the recent news that Moscow is deploying warships to Syria in the Eastern Mediterranean. According to Russia’s former Navy Chief of Staff Adm. Viktor Kravchenko, a stop at Russia’s base in Syria would be intended to prevent “the outbreak of armed conflict”—in other words, to counter any nato intervention in Syria.

Courcy’s Intelligence Brief discussed Russia’s increasing resolve to challenge the U.S., explaining that it is not empty bluster designed to bolster nationalism ahead of Russia’s March elections. “Putin does genuinely believe that nato’s propensity to stretch UN Security Council resolutions, as with Libya, and the development of its anti-missile shield, undermines Russian interests. The messages coming out of the Kremlin are not being manufactured just for electoral effect” (November 30).

Dmitriy Rogozin, Russia’s permanent representative to nato, drew parallels between the current spat over nato’s missile defense shield and the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. “[O]nly the strong and self-confident are respected in this world,” Rogozin said, adding that military strength should be at the core of the Kremlin’s drive to restore Russia’s greatness. “We should stop babbling about our former greatness. It is time to restore a new strong and powerful Russia, a new Russian greatness based on the ability to foresee the future and the muscle that should guarantee the country’s defense capability.”

Rogozin’s words are reflected in Russia’s budget for 2012-2014. Defense funding in 2012 is slated to be $65 billion, which is an increase of 20 percent over 2011. In 2013 it will rise a further 25 percent to $81.7 billion, and then to $96 billion in 2014.

To understand the significance of Russia’s resurgence, and how it relates to your life, read Russia and China in Prophecy.