Russia scraps Kaliningrad missile plan
September 19th, 2009 - 9:58 pm ICT by IANS
Moscow, Sep 19 (RIA Novosti) The Russian defence ministry confirmed Saturday that the country scrapped plans to deploy missiles near Poland after the US shelved its nuclear missile shield plans for Europe.
Vladimir Popovkin said on the Ekho Moskvy radio station that US President Barack Obama’s decision earlier this week made the deployment of Iskander tactical missiles in the Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad unnecessary.
“Reason prevailed over ambitions, and there is no need in deploying tactical Iskander systems in Kaliningrad,” Popovkin said echoing earlier statements from other Russian officials.
Obama announced Thursday that Washington would not deploy a radar in the Czech Republic and a missile base in Poland, due to a re-assessment of the threat from Iran. Moscow fiercely opposed the plans as a national security threat.
“The measures Russia had planned in response to the deployment of missile shield elements in Eastern Europe will certainly be abandoned,” Popovkin said.
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Tags: ambitions, barack obama, defence ministry, deployment, eastern europe, ekho moskvy, exclave, missile base, missile plan, missile shield, moscow, national security threat, nuclear missile, radar, radio station, ria novosti, russian defence, russian officials, tactical missiles, vladimir