Russia Threatens No One By Deploying Iskander Systems in Kaliningrad - Kremlin
13:54 06.02.2018
MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Russia does not threaten anyone but has the sovereign right to place weapons anywhere on its territory, presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday, commenting on reports of Iskander deployment in the Kaliningrad region.
"I want to remind you that the deployment of these or those armaments, deployment of military units and so on and so forth on Russian territory is an exclusively sovereign issue of the Russian territory. Russia has never threatened anyone, but Russia naturally has such a sovereign right. Therefore, this should not cause anyone's concern," Peskov told reporters.
Earlier this week, Lithuanian Defense Minister Raimundas Karoblis said Russia had deployed the Iskander missile system in the Kaliningrad region, adding that they posed threat to entire Europe.
Later on, the head of the Russian State Duma Defense Committee, Vladimir Shamanov, confirmed to journalists that Russia had placed the systems in the Kaliningrad region.
Commenting on the situation, a NATO representative told Russian Interfax news agency that the current deployment of the missile systems promoted a further escalation of tensions between Russia and NATO, adding, however, that it wasn't a surprise for the bloc.
The Iskander-M is one of Russia's newest high-precision weapons, introduced into the Russian military beginning in 2006. Its supersonic, guided nuclear-capable missiles, ranged at 415-500km, can be independently targeted in seconds, and are fully controlled at every stage of their flight path. The Russian military plans to equip all missile units of the Ground Forces with Iskander-Ms by 2020.
© Sputnik
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