Russia is to modernise two airfields and deploy extra surface-to-air
missiles at military bases within its western exclave of Kaliningrad, it
has been announced.
Vice Admiral Viktor Chirkov, commander of Russia's Baltic fleet, said that the runway at Chkalovsk airfield would be extended to 3,500m in length to allow it to "receive any kind of aircraft, including Boeings and Airbuses".
Construction to extend the airfield is expected to take around two years, and Russia will also look to rebuild a disused airfield on the Baltic Sea coast.
The country has already delivered S-400 Triumf surface-to-air missiles to Kaliningrad, and they are expected to be deployed within a month.
S-400 missiles have only previously been deployed around Moscow, and will be joined in Kaliningrad by an unknown number of Iskander missiles.
Kaliningrad shares borders with Poland, to the south, and Lithuania, and Russian officials have said the weapons deployments are directly related to the country's anger over NATO's planned missile defence shield, which is set to see radar systems and SM-3 interceptor missiles deployed throughout Europe in coming years.
Yury Gorlach, deputy director of the Russian foreign ministry's department of European cooperation, said the country would take a "phased approach" to any deployments.
"If there is no threat to Russian strategic potential, there will be nothing in Kaliningrad region," he is reported to have said.
In November 2011, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said that bases in Kaliningrad would be put on combat alert, that he would reinforce protection of Russia's nuclear weapons, and that he was asking the armed forces to draw up plans to disable European missile defence systems.
If the measures proved "insufficient", Medvedev warned, Russia would "deploy modern offensive weapon systems in the west and south of the country, ensuring our ability to take out any part of the US missile defence system in Europe".
Vice Admiral Viktor Chirkov, commander of Russia's Baltic fleet, said that the runway at Chkalovsk airfield would be extended to 3,500m in length to allow it to "receive any kind of aircraft, including Boeings and Airbuses".
Construction to extend the airfield is expected to take around two years, and Russia will also look to rebuild a disused airfield on the Baltic Sea coast.
The country has already delivered S-400 Triumf surface-to-air missiles to Kaliningrad, and they are expected to be deployed within a month.
S-400 missiles have only previously been deployed around Moscow, and will be joined in Kaliningrad by an unknown number of Iskander missiles.
Kaliningrad shares borders with Poland, to the south, and Lithuania, and Russian officials have said the weapons deployments are directly related to the country's anger over NATO's planned missile defence shield, which is set to see radar systems and SM-3 interceptor missiles deployed throughout Europe in coming years.
Yury Gorlach, deputy director of the Russian foreign ministry's department of European cooperation, said the country would take a "phased approach" to any deployments.
"If there is no threat to Russian strategic potential, there will be nothing in Kaliningrad region," he is reported to have said.
In November 2011, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said that bases in Kaliningrad would be put on combat alert, that he would reinforce protection of Russia's nuclear weapons, and that he was asking the armed forces to draw up plans to disable European missile defence systems.
If the measures proved "insufficient", Medvedev warned, Russia would "deploy modern offensive weapon systems in the west and south of the country, ensuring our ability to take out any part of the US missile defence system in Europe".
No comments:
Post a Comment