Moscow: missiles in western Russia legitimate
12/16/2013MOSCOW — Russia’s Defense Ministry says that the deployment of short-range missiles in western part of the country doesn’t violate any international agreements.
The ministry wouldn’t specify today where exactly the Iskander missiles are stationed.
The ministry’s statement, which was carried by Russian news agencies, came in response to the German daily Bild’s report that the missiles were deployed to Russia’s westernmost Kaliningrad exclave on the Baltic Sea.
The ministry spokesman, Igor Konashenkov, said in a statement that “specific areas of the Iskander missile systems’ location in the Western Military District don’t violate any international agreements.”
Russia long has threatened to deploy the Iskander missiles, which are capable of carrying conventional or nuclear warheads, to the Kaliningrad region as a countermeasure to the U.S.-led missile defense system.