In response to the U.S.-NATO installation of an air defense shield in May, Russia will install new systems in Kaliningrad near Poland.

Russia intends to increase its air and missile defense in the Baltic Region, where strikes could reach major European cities, in response to the U.S. and NATO’s new missile defense system deployed earlier this year, a top Russian lawmaker said Monday.

"To counter these threats, we will be forced to strengthen our air and missile defenses in the western vector and to deploy additional means to defend the relevant command-and-control infrastructure," Viktor Ozerov, chairman of the Federation Council Committee on Defense and Security, told RIA News agency in an interview, according to Reuters.

Ozerov, who heads the top defense committee in the upper house of Russia’s parliament, said the military will roll out its S-400 air missile defense system and ballistic Iskander missiles in the Kaliningrad enclave to strengthen its western borders.

Kaliningrad, which was annexed by the then-Soviet Union from Germany following World War II, sits between Lithuania and Poland in the southeast of the Baltic Sea, a key military stronghold that would allow the missiles to reach major European cities.

With a 300-mile range, the S-400 is capable of hitting targets from both short and long distances, putting cities like Berlin, as well as Poland and Sweden in danger if fired.

Though Russia and the US have seen diplomatic relations erode over the last year for various reasons – the Syrian civil war and alleged meddling by Russia in this month’s U.S. presidential election – the fresh deployment of air and missile defense systems is technically a delayed response considering the U.S. and NATO launched the Aegis ashore system in May.

That system was announced almost a decade ago, and the U.S. has said it's strictly been installed to protect itself and allies from countries like Iran, not Russia. Developed by contractor Lockheed Martin, the Aegis system, under NATO’s command and capable of simultaneously hitting targets on land, at sea and other ships, is located in Deveselu, Romania. Construction began on another facility in Poland a day after the Romanian installation was announced.
• Russian Aircraft Carrier To Get An Upgrade </s> MOSCOW -- The Kremlin on Tuesday brushed off Western criticism of the deployment of state-of-the-art missiles in Russia's Baltic Sea region, describing it as an equivalent response to NATO's military buildup near its borders.

The Russian military has reportedly stationed anti-ship missiles in the nation's westernmost Kaliningrad province, and a senior lawmaker also has announced the deployment of other missile systems.

The U.S. State Department and NATO have voiced concern, describing the Russian move as destabilizing.

President Vladimir Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters that the Russian military needs to respond to what he described as NATO's aggressive moves.

"Russia is doing what is necessary to protect itself amid NATO's expansion toward its borders," Peskov said. "The alliance is a truly aggressive bloc, so Russia does what it has to do. It has every sovereign right to take necessary measures throughout the territory of the Russian Federation."

The Interfax news agency reported Monday that the Russian military has put Bastion missile launchers on duty in the Kaliningrad exclave, which borders NATO members Poland and Lithuania. The Russian Defense Ministry said over the weekend that the Baltic Fleet was rearming itself with new missile launchers, but didn't provide specifics.

Separately, Viktor Ozerov, the head of the defense affairs committee in the Russian parliament's upper house, told RIA Novosti news agency Monday that Russia also would deploy Iskander tactical ballistic missiles and S-400 air defense missile systems to Kaliningrad in response to U.S. missile defense plans.

U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby warned Monday that the deployment of Iskander and S-400 missiles to Kaliningrad is "destabilizing to European security" and urged Russia to "refrain from words or deeds that are inconsistent with the goal of promoting security and stability in the Euro-Atlantic region."

The Kremlin long has warned that the development of NATO's U.S.-led missile defense system poses a danger to Russia's security and vowed to take countermeasures.

In an interview with U.S. filmmaker Oliver Stone included in a documentary about the Ukrainian crisis broadcast in Russia late Monday, Putin warned that Russia would target NATO sites if it thinks they threaten Russia.

"We have to take countermeasures, targeting the facilities that we perceive as a threat with our missile systems," Putin said. </s> MOSCOW — The Kremlin on Tuesday brushed off Western criticism of the deployment of state-of-the art missiles in Russia's Baltic Sea region, describing it as an equivalent response to NATO's military buildup near its borders.

The Russian military has reportedly stationed anti-shipping missiles in the nation's westernmost Kaliningrad exclave, and a senior lawmaker also has announced the deployment of other missile systems.

President Vladimir Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters that the Russian military needs to response to what he described as NATO's aggressive moves.

"Russia is doing what is necessary to protect itself amid NATO's expansion toward its borders," Peskov said. "The alliance is a truly aggressive bloc, so Russia does what it has to do. It has every sovereign right to take necessary measures throughout the territory of the Russian Federation."

The Interfax news agency reported Monday that the Russian military has put Bastion missile-launchers on duty in the Kaliningrad region, which borders NATO members Poland and Lithuania. The Russian Ministry said over the weekend that the Baltic Fleet was rearming itself with new missile-launchers, but didn't provide specifics. It had no immediate comment on the Interfax report.

Separately, Viktor Ozerov, the head of the affairs committee in the Russian parliament's upper house, told RIA Novosti news agency Monday that Russia would also deploy Iskander tactical ballistic missiles and S-400 air missile systems to Kaliningrad in response to the U.S. missile plans.

U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby warned Monday that the deployment of Iskander and S-400 missiles to Kaliningrad is "destabilizing to European security" and urged Moscow to "refrain from words or deeds that are inconsistent with the goal of promoting security and stability in the Euro-Atlantic region."

NATO said in a statement to The Associated Press on Tuesday that the missile deployment near the alliance's borders "does not help to lower tensions or restore predictability to our relations." NATO called for more transparency on military activities "to avoid incidents and the risk of misunderstandings."

"Russia isn't a source of security threat now. It's the buildup of weapons and servicemen from outside Europe," he said pointing at U.S. missile sites in Europe and the planned buildup of U.S. troops in Poland and the Baltics.

The Kremlin long has warned that the development of NATO's U.S.-led missile system poses a danger to Russia's security and vowed to take countermeasures. Moscow also has complained strongly against the deployment of NATO's military units near Russia's borders.

In an interview with American filmmaker Oliver Stone included in a documentary about the Ukrainian crisis broadcast in Russia late Monday, Putin warned that Russia would target NATO sites if it thinks they threaten Russia. </s> WARSAW, Poland — Poland and Estonia expressed concerns Saturday that Russia has moved nuclear-capable Iskander ballistic missiles into Kaliningrad, a Russian region on the Baltic Sea, with one official saying Russia appears eager to dominate that body of water.

Russia, meanwhile, says the missiles are being deployed as part of regular military maneuvers to Kaliningrad.

The development comes amid heightened tensions between Russia and the West over Syria.

"It seems to me that this is yet another step in the general context of escalation that we see, at least in rhetoric," said outgoing Estonian president Toomas Hendrik Ilves, according to Estonian broadcaster ERR.

Polish Defense Minister Antoni Macierewicz said Poland considers the matter of "highest concern" and is monitoring the situation.

The chief of staff of the Estonian Defense Forces, Lt. Gen. Riho Terras told ERR that he sees the move as part of a larger Russian attempt to dominate the Baltic Sea.

"In the long term, Russia's wish is to bring the Baltic Sea and the passages leading to it more and more under its control, and to control it much like it does the Black Sea," Terras said.

Wedged between NATO members Poland and Lithuania and the Baltic Sea, Kaliningrad is vital to Russia's strategic position. Separated from the Russian mainland by 435 miles (700 kilometers), it is the westernmost part of Russia. It houses the Russian Baltic Fleet, as well as multiple land forces and an air force detachment with fighters, bombers and helicopters, as well as an early-warning radar system and other equipment.

The Iskander, which can be equipped with a conventional or a nuclear warhead, has a range of at least 500 kilometers (310 miles), placing most of Poland within its reach when it is in Kaliningrad.

"The Iskander ballistic missile system is mobile," he said in a statement Saturday. "As part of the plan of combat training, missile troops are engaged in training on a year-round basis, covering great distances of the Russian territory in various ways: by air, by sea, and under their own power."

He also said Russia used the deployment to figure out what range a U.S. spy satellite has.

"We exposed one Iskander before loading it on the Ambal (a cargo carrier) right under a U.S. reconnaissance satellite flying above in order to verify the parameters of that space apparatus. We did not have to wait too long (for results)," he said, without elaborating.

Other countries in the region are also nervous.

Finland and the United States signed a bilateral defense cooperation pact Friday pledging closer military collaboration at the time when the Nordic country is increasingly concerned over neighboring Russia's activities in the Baltic Sea.

Jan M. Olsen in Copenhagen, Denmark, contributed to this report. </s> Image copyright EPA Image caption The Iskander system (file photo) could reach the German capital, Berlin

Russia has deployed nuclear-capable Iskander missiles in its western-most region, Kaliningrad, which borders on Nato members Poland and Lithuania.

Poland said the development was of the "highest concern", adding it was monitoring the situation.

Russia's defence ministry said the new deployment was part of military exercises and had happened before.

The US and Nato have seen disagreements with Russia intensify in recent times, particularly over Syria and Ukraine.

Kaliningrad is a Russian enclave sandwiched between Poland and Lithuania.

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The Iskander system has a range of up to 700km (440 miles) and could reach the German capital, Berlin.

Polish Defence Minister Antoni Macierewicz called Russia's activities "very alarming".

And a US intelligence official told Reuters the move could be to express displeasure at Nato. Nato is boosting its eastern flank by deploying four battalions in Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia next year.

Kaliningrad facts

Koenigsberg, as the city of Kaliningrad was once known, was founded by Teutonic knights in the 13th Century. It was once the capital of Prussia

Annexed from Germany after WWII. Germans fled or were expelled

Is more than 300km away from Russia, which can only be reached through an EU country

It houses the Russian Baltic Fleet and is the country's only ice-free European port

The philosopher Immanuel Kant spent all his life in the city and died there in 1804

Kaliningrad profile

But Russian defence ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said the deployment was "not exceptional".

Russia's annexation of Crimea and its support for rebels fighting in eastern Ukraine provoked considerable alarm in this region that Moscow might also consider aggressive action against countries on Nato's eastern flank, says the BBC's Adam Eston in Warsaw.

Nato sought to soothe those fears at its Warsaw summit in July by announcing it would deploy troops to both the Baltic states and Poland, our correspondent says.

Nato said it was a purely defensive action but Moscow sees it as a threat and the deployment of the missiles could be viewed as a counter measure, he adds.

Iskanders were sent to Kaliningrad during military drills last year.

Russia's annexation of Crimea and its support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad continue to test relations with Western powers.

Finland, Sweden, Estonia and Latvia are among nations reporting recent air-space violations by Russia's military. </s> WASHINGTON, Nov 21 (Reuters) - Russia's deployment of its S-400 air missile defense system and ballistic Iskander missile in the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad "is destabilizing to European security," the U.S. State Department said on Monday in response to reports citing the head of the defense committee in Russia's upper house of parliament.

"Russia has made threats to move its Iskander missiles to Kaliningrad for the past decade in response to a variety of developments in Europe, none of which demand such a military response," State Department spokesman John Kirby told reporters.

"We call on Russia to refrain from words or deeds that are inconsistent with the goal of promoting security and stability," he added. (Reporting by Lesley Wroughton; Editing by Jonathan Oatis) </s> OLSZYNA, Poland - US troops and tanks began arriving in Poland Thursday, part of one of the largest deployments of US forces in Europe since the Cold War that will eventually involve more than 3,000 soldiers.

The Pentagon operation sparked immediate anger from Russia, with the Kremlin describing it as a “threat” on its “doorstep.”

The Atlantic Resolve mission will see an armoured brigade with more than 3,000 Amercian soldiers and heavy equipment deployed in Poland and nearby NATO partners Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary on a rotational basis.

The outgoing Obama administration ordered the deployment in 2014 to reassure eastern allies after Russia’s actions in Ukraine. But the operation comes a week ahead of the inauguration of US President-elect Donald Trump, who has suggested his Republican administration will seek to ease tensions with the Kremlin.

A contingent of US troops entered Poland at the Olszyna border crossing with Germany on Thursday.

Heavy equipment, including 87 Abrams tanks and over 500 personnel carriers including military-equipped Humvees were to follow.

“This operation threatens our interests and our security,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday. “This is even more pronounced when a third party (the United States) reinforces its military presence on our doorstep in Europe,” he added.

Russian deputy foreign minister Alexei Mechkov described the deployment as a “factor destabilising European security.”

Last summer, NATO leaders also endorsed plans to rotate troops into Poland and the three Baltic states to reassure them they would not be left in the lurch if Russia was tempted to repeat its 2014 Ukraine intervention.

A separate US-led battalion working within the NATO framework will be stationed near Poland’s north-east border with Russia’s Kaliningrad exclave.

Moscow has stepped up its presence in the Baltic Sea area over the last two years. Its jets regularly violate the airspace of smaller ex-Soviet NATO allies like Estonia and in April they even buzzed a US naval destroyer.

Late last year, Poland criticised Moscow’s deployment of nuclear-capable Iskander missiles into its Kaliningrad outpost that borders NATO members Poland and Lithuania. </s> MOSCOW (AP) — The Russian military has deployed state-of-the art anti-shipping missiles in the nation's westernmost Baltic region, the Interfax news agency reported Monday, a move that comes amid spiraling tensions in Russia-West ties.

Interfax said Monday that the military has put Bastion missile-launchers on duty in the Kaliningrad exclave that borders NATO members Poland and Lithuania. The Russian Defense Ministry said over the weekend that the Baltic Fleet was rearming itself with new missile-launchers, but didn't provide specifics.

The ministry had no immediate comment on the Interfax report.

The Bastion fires supersonic Oniks cruise missiles, which have a range of up to 450 kilometers (280 miles) and can be used against ships as well as ground targets. Last week, it made its combat debut in Syria where the Russian military used it against militants.

Separately, Viktor Ozerov, the head of the defense affairs committee in the Russian parliament's upper house, told RIA Novosti news agency Monday that Russia would also deploy Iskander tactical ballistic missiles and S-400 air defense missile systems to Kaliningrad in response to the U.S. missile defense plans.

"We are facing two main tasks — to penetrate air defenses and ensure protection from possible strikes," Ozerov said.

The S-400, which Russia has used to protect its air base in Syria, is a sophisticated system that can simultaneously track and strike multiple aerial targets at ranges of up to 400 kilometers (250 miles). Based in the Kaliningrad region, the S-400s will be capable of targeting NATO aircraft and missiles over most of the Baltic region.

Iskander has a range of up to 500 kilometers (310 miles) and high precision, allowing it to target facilities in several NATO member nations neighboring Russia with pinpoint accuracy. It can be fitted with a conventional or a nuclear warhead.

Last month, the deployment of Iskander missiles to the Kaliningrad region worried Russia's neighbors. The Russian military said the move was part of regular training, but didn't specify whether the missiles were sent there temporarily or deployed on a permanent basis.

The Kremlin long has warned that the development of NATO's U.S.-led missile defense system poses a danger to Russia's security and vowed to take countermeasures. Moscow also has complained strongly against the deployment of NATO's military units near Russia's borders.

"To counter these threats, we will be forced to strengthen our air and missile defenses in the western vector and to deploy additional means to defend the relevant command-and-control infrastructure," Ozerov told RIA Novosti. </s> Nato and the Kremlin have traded accusations over the Russian deployment of state-of-the-art missiles in its Baltic Sea exclave of Kaliningrad.

Nato on Tuesday accused Russia of “aggressive military posturing”, while Vladimir Putin shot back that Russia was merely responding to Nato aggression.

The rhetoric comes as Europe waits with trepidation to see how a Donald Trump presidency will affect the continent’s security arrangements. Trump said in an interview during his election campaign he would be willing to tell Nato allies, “Congratulations, you will be defending yourself” if he felt they were not contributing enough financially to the alliance.

The UK prime minister, Theresa May, is due to meet Nato’s secretary general Jens Stoltenberg at Downing Street on Wednesday and is expected to say he must persuade European countries to meet the Nato commitment to spend 2% of national income on defence.

The European parliament on Tuesday voted 369 to 255 in favour of a plan to deepen defence coordination between member states, in part prompted by Trump’s words.

“Our union is not equipped to face overwhelming defence challenges,” said MEP Urmas Paet, a former foreign minister of Estonia who drafted the resolution. “Europe continues to rely heavily on Nato capabilities and on US solidarity.”

Trump also described Nato as obsolete during the campaign and suggested a military alliance with Russia over Syria could be possible, something which has been cautiously welcomed in Moscow and greeted with horror in many European capitals, particularly in the three Baltic nations, which share a border with Russia.

The Russian military has reportedly stationed Bastion anti-ship missiles in Kaliningrad, a piece of Russian territory between Poland and Lithuania, while a senator, Viktor Ozerov, said on Monday that Russia would deploy Iskander ballistic missiles and S-400 missile-defence systems in Kaliningrad.



Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said on Tuesday that moving the missiles to Kaliningrad was a logical response to a hostile west: “Russia is doing everything necessary to ensure its security in the face of expansion by Nato towards its borders. The alliance really is an aggressive bloc, therefore Russia must do everything it can, and in this case it has the sovereign right to take necessary measures across its whole territory.”

Peskov declined to answer whether the systems were already in place and whether they would be based in Kaliningrad permanently. Russia said last October that it was moving the Iskander missiles into the exclave for a training drill.



Russia has long expressed displeasure with the idea of a US missile defence system in Europe, and on Monday, Putin even raised the possibility that it could carry out preventive strikes against such infrastructure.

“When a country becomes a Nato member, it’s very difficult for it to resist pressure from such a big country leading Nato, the US. And then you can get whatever they want there: missile defence systems, or new bases, and, if required, new missile systems.

“What should we do? Well in this case we should take counter measures, to use our missile systems to hit those targets that have started to threaten us. The situation is worrying,” said Putin, during an interview in a documentary film about Ukraine directed by Oliver Stone and broadcast on Russian television on Monday.

Asked whether May and Stoltenberg would discuss Trump’s approach to Nato when they met on Wednesday, the prime minister’s deputy official spokesman said: “Part of the discussion will clearly centre on Nato funding and 2% pledge but it will be a wide-ranging conversation on Nato issues.”

“On the issue of 2%, clearly we have been driving this issue since we hosted the Nato summit in Wales a few years ago. We are clear in our view that other countries should do the same and we have seen some countries move towards it. We are clear we think that 2% commitment is important.”
Russia deploys its S-400 missile system in Kaliningrad, an exclave between Poland and Lithuania, in response to "NATO expansion" near its borders. The United States criticizes the move as "destabilizing" to Europe. Russia announced the planned deployment over a decade ago.