December 16, 2013
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia has deployed Iskander missiles with a range of hundreds of kilometers in its Baltic Sea exclave of Kaliningrad, which borders NATO members Poland and Lithuania, the pro-Kremlin newspaper Izvestia reported on Monday.
The missiles have been in place "for some time," according to Izvestia's source, a high-level Defence Ministry official it did not name. Another unnamed military source said they were deployed about 18 months ago.
The Izvestia report followed a story in German newspaper Bild on Saturday that said secret satellite imagery showed Iskander-M missiles stationed near the Polish border.
The reports caused alarm in Poland and the Baltic states, which are wary of Russian military movements after decades of dominance by the Soviet Union. Their alarm was aggravated by tension between Russia and the West over Ukraine.
"We have followed these events for quite some time, and this is not a surprise for us," Artis Pabriks, defense minister of nearby Latvia, told Reuters.
But he added: "It creates unnecessary political tension and suspicions and reduces mutual trust because we don't see reason why Russians would need such weapons here.
"I think it's just to show who is the boss in the region."
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