Moscow has said that
the Iskander-M missiles were transported to Kaliningrad for a
military drill. Lithuania's Foreign Minister has said the move seeks
to pressure the West into making concessions over Syria and Ukraine.
Russian military
forces has transported nuclear-capable Iskander-M missiles into the
Kaliningrad region bordering Lithuania and Poland, both of whom NATO
members, it was confirmed on Saturday.
The spokesman for
Russia's Defense Ministry, Igor Konashenkov, said: "These
missile units have been deployed more than once (in the Kaliningrad
region)... and will be deployed as part of military training of the
Russian armed forces."
The United States
and Lithuania said that moving the missiles could be a political
gesture and expression of Moscow's displeasure with NATO. The
Lithuanian foreign ministry also warned that Moscow was using the
move to "seek concessions from the West" over its role the
conflicts in Syria and Ukraine.
"Russia is
holding military exercises in Kaliningrad, and its scenario includes
deployment of Iskander missile systems and the possibile use of them.
We are aware of it," Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas
Linkevicius said.
Linkevicius said
that modified Iskander missiles can achieve a range of up to 700
kilometers (440 miles), far enough to reach the German capital,
Berlin.
Poland's Defense
Minister, Antoni Macierewicz, described Moscow's actions as "very
alarming."
Russia has
deployed nuclear-capable Iskander missiles in its westernmost
region in 2015 as part of a series of military drills amid heightened
tensions over Ukraine.
Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius |
Konashenkov
reiterated on Saturday that the Kaliningrad enclave is "not an
exception" to drills conducted across the country.
In the years since
Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine and launched its military
campaign in Syria, tensions with the West have escalated to
their worst level since the Cold War.
On Friday, the
United States called for Russia and Syria to be investigated for war
crimes for the bombing of hospitals in Aleppo. It also accused Moscow
of interfering in the US presidential election.
Russia has also
increased its military presence along its border with the NATO Baltic
states, conducting a series of war games and training exercises,
sometimes involving tens of thousands of troops.
NATO, meanwhile, has
agreed to bolster its own military presence along its eastern flank.
It will deploy four additional battalions in Poland, Lithuania,
Latvia and Estonia as of next year.
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