Russian servicemen equip an Iskander tactical missile system at the Army-2015 international military-technical forum in Kubinka, outside Moscow, Russia, June 17, 2015. REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin
Reuters: Russia seen putting new nuclear-capable missiles along NATO border by 2019
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia is likely to deploy advanced nuclear-capable missiles in its European exclave of Kaliningrad by 2019, casting the move as a reply to a U.S.-backed missile shield, and may one day put them in Crimea too, sources close to its military predict.
That would fuel what is already the worst standoff between Russia and the West since the Cold War and put a swathe of territory in NATO members Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia in the cross-hairs.
Russia would probably have deployed the missile -- called the Iskander, the Persian name for Alexander the Great -- in Kaliningrad regardless, and the targets it will cover can be struck by longer-range Russian missiles anyway.
But Russian and Western experts say the U.S.-backed shield, which Moscow says is aimed at blunting its own nuclear capabilities, gives the Kremlin the political cover it needs to justify something it was planning all along.
Read more ....
Update: Russia to deploy NUCLEAR-capable ballistic missiles in the heart of EUROPE (Express)
WNU Editor: Nothing official yet from Moscow .... but I agree with Reuters that Russia has been looking for an excuse to deploy these missiles in Kaliningrad .... and now NATO is giving it to them.
4 comments:
Russia deployed Iskander M missiles to Kaliningrad last year.
http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/introducing-the-iskander-the-russian-missile-nato-fears-15653
Good memory Jay. You are right.
Rolling Thunder
Guess you don't know the role that Iskander M's role in Russian doctrine.
If Russia believes that the US/NATO is moving to a "war footing" with Russia, Iskander M's and BraMos missiles are fired at US ABM sites and Radars in Europe, and against forward deployed AGEIS Cruisers and Destroyers.
This is to enshure that a US Nuclear First Strike, coupled with US ABM systems, will not prevent a Russian Counterstrike against the US, ensuring Mutually Assured Destruction.
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