Russia reportedly slams Trump’s Golden Dome as ‘provocative’ as trillion-dollar shield takes shape
President Donald Trump announced his proposal for a "Golden Dome" missile defense system in the United States on May 20, 2025. (Leah Millis/Reuters/File Photo; Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Russia on Monday sharply criticized the U.S.-proposed Golden Dome missile defense system, warning that the initiative could destabilize global nuclear deterrence, according to Russian state media reports.
Russia’s state news agency TASS reported that Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council, described the ambitious missile defense concept as highly “provocative” in comments to the Kommersant newspaper.
“Problems in the strategic sphere resulting from destabilizing U.S. actions only continue to grow,” Medvedev said, according to TASS. “It is enough to recall the highly provocative anti-missile project ‘Golden Dome for America.’” He added that the system contradicts the long-standing principle that offensive and defensive strategic weapons are inseparably linked — a concept embedded in the preamble of the New START treaty, which limits Russia’s deployed intercontinental nuclear weapons.
A U.S. defense expert said Russia’s response highlights the Golden Dome’s significance as both a military capability and a geopolitical signal.
“Even before it has been built, the dome is military focused and politically focused, and it’s an incredible bargaining chip with U.S. adversaries,” Cameron Chell, a defense expert and CEO of Draganfly, told Fox News Digital.
Chell said the system could influence how the United States negotiates with rivals such as Russia and China on peace agreements, arms control treaties, and the future balance of nuclear arsenals.
The Golden Dome is a long-term missile defense concept intended to protect North America from ballistic, cruise, and hypersonic missile threats.
Chell’s comments followed the Pentagon’s release of its National Defense Strategy on Jan. 23, which emphasized renewed focus on homeland defense, expanded missile defense capabilities, counter-drone systems, cyber defense, and long-range strike forces. According to the strategy, the Golden Dome would be designed to defeat “large missile barrages and other advanced aerial attacks” while also strengthening military and key civilian infrastructure against cyber threats, as Russia and China continue to expand their hypersonic weapons programs.
China has also criticized the Golden Dome initiative, accusing Washington of undermining global strategic stability and increasing the risk of weaponizing outer space.
“There’s big value in the discussion and development of Golden Dome long before it’s built, including the research and technological advances that come from it,” Chell said. He added that the economic impact and industrial scale of such a project also factor into its importance.
The system’s size and complexity are expected to amplify its strategic impact, though they could also drive costs into the trillions of dollars.
“The dome is going to take trillions to build and would be the largest military project — likely the largest engineering and technology project — ever attempted,” Chell said. He noted that the U.S. faces a decade of planning involving communication networks, radar coverage, and early-warning systems, with increasing focus on northern regions.
“To protect the U.S., you want to intercept threats before they pass over the country,” Chell said. “That shifts attention to areas like Canada or even farther north.”
U.S. defense planners view Canada and Greenland as critical locations for radar coverage, space tracking, and early-warning infrastructure.
“The concept involves intercepting threats from space, but that requires detailed geographic data and access throughout the North,” Chell explained.
President Trump has long argued that U.S. control of Greenland is vital for national security, citing its strategic Arctic location and natural resources. Chell echoed that view, saying, “There needs to be infrastructure and oversight in the far north — in Canada, Greenland, and similar regions. All of that planning has to happen well before anything becomes operational.”
Chell also pointed to the potential role of drones in supporting the Golden Dome’s mission.
“Drones could provide reconnaissance, surveillance, and intelligence support for the Golden Dome,” he said, adding that the system would be integrated into the broader U.S. military framework.
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