Shifting tone, Kremlin calls Trump’s Golden Dome plan a ‘sovereign matter’

The Kremlin says that US President Donald Trump’s plan for a “Golden Dome” missile shield requires consultations with Russia but was otherwise a “sovereign matter” for the United States, softening its tone after previously slamming the idea as destabilizing.

The proposal, which Trump ordered a week after his inauguration in January, would see Washington deploy missile interceptors in space to protect against ballistic and hypersonic threats.

Unveiling new details on initial funding for the project yesterday, Trump called it “important for the success and even survival of our country.”

“This is a sovereign matter for the United States. If the United States believes that there is a missile threat, then of course it will develop a missile defense system,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov tells reporters.

“That is what all countries do,” he adds.

“Of course, in the foreseeable future, the course of events will require the resumption of contacts to restore strategic stability,” he adds, referring to broader nuclear talks.

Peskov’s comments came two days after a call between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin that the US leader said “went very well.”

Since taking office, Trump has sought to warm ties with the Kremlin, reaching out to Putin directly in a bid to broker an end to the three-year Ukraine conflict.

Russia previously denounced the Golden Dome plan, warning it risked turning space into a “battlefield.”