Russian Iskander missiles 'deployed near Polish border'
PR dla Zagranicy
Peter Gentle
16.12.2013 11:14
Russia's foreign ministry has refused to comment on a German media report that short-range Iskander missiles have been stationed in Kaliningrad near Poland's border for up to a year and a half.
Russland plant die Stationierung von Iskander-Kurzstreckenraketen in Kaliningrad
Iskander SS-26: photo - strategypage.com
The German Bild newspaper reported at the weekend that 10 Iskander missile systems are stationed in the Russian enclave, which are capable of carrying nuclear warheads.
The missiles' range covers the whole of the territory of Poland and the German capital, Berlin.
An anonymous official at Russia's Land Forces Command has confirmed to the Izvestia daily in Moscow that the missiles have been deployed near Poland's border for a year and a half.
"Everything is functioning normally there. It is incomprehensible why [German media] has caused this panic," the official said.
In November 2008, the then Russian president Dmitry Medvedev announced that if the US went ahead with a missile defense system in Central Europe, then Russia would take "appropriate steps", including deploying Iskander missiles in Kaliningrad. (pg)