Russia Threatens European Rocket Deployment

Russia Threatens European Rocket Deployment

Russia issued a veiled threat Wednesday to deploy rockets in its Kaliningrad enclave bordering the European Union if the United States builds a missile defense shield in Eastern Europe.
The two sides are locked in a standoff over the U.S. plans for a radar station in the Czech Republic and interceptor rockets in Poland. Russia says it is a threat to its security.
The threat to put missiles in Kalingrad was made by First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov only two days after Russian President Vladimir Putin again raised the missile shield dispute with U.S. President George W. Bush.
Putin has suggested to Bush that the United States use a Russian-controlled radar in ex-Soviet Azerbaijan, near the Iranian border instead of having a shield in Eastern Europe.
Putin has also offered the use of an early warning station under construction in southern Russia.
“If our offers are accepted, Russia will not consider it necessary to deploy new rocket units in the European part of the country, including Kaliningrad, to counter the threat” from the U.S. plans, Ivanov was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies.
Ivanov, who was on a visit to Uzbekistan, said Russia had “found an asymmetrical and effective response” to the U.S. project for a European shield.
“We know what we’re doing … If our proposals are not accepted, we will take adequate measures,” Ivanov said.
Washington insists its shield is to guard against possible attack from “rogue states” such as Iran. Moscow believes the systems are directed against Russia.
Ivanov’s comments suggested that tensions remain high despite efforts to calm the atmosphere at a meeting between Putin and Bush in Kennebunkport, Maine, this week.
Putin has already suggested that Russia could point its missiles at European targets if the U.S. plan goes ahead.
Kaliningrad, which Russia won at the end of World War II, lies on the Baltic Sea, separated from the rest of Russia by Poland and Lithuania.
Responding to Ivanov’s comments, Moscow-based defense analyst Pavel Felgenhauer said Russia in fact had no missiles of a range that could be fired from Kaliningrad and hit the proposed interceptors in Poland.
“It’s a threat aimed at the Polish people” designed to encourage them to protest against the U.S. plans, Felgenhauer said. “It’s an empty threat.”
NATO has backed the U.S. plan for a missile shield in Europe.