Russia Moves Nuclear-Capable Missiles Closer to EU amid Polish, Baltic Criticism

Russia has moved nuclear-capable Iskander missiles closer to Europe's borders in response to the U..S.-led deployment of a disputed air defense shield, the defense ministry said on Monday.

The announcement is almost certain to irritate the former Communist states of Eastern Europe and add another layer to the tensions in Moscow's fraught relations with Washington.

The advanced version of the Russian missile has a range of 500 kilometers (310 miles) and could potentially be used to take out ground-based radar and interceptors of the new NATO shield.

However, Poland and three Baltic states voiced their alarm later on Monday over Russia's plans.

"Plans to deploy Iskander-M missiles in the Kaliningrad district are disturbing and Poland has said so many times," its foreign ministry said in a statement.

Warsaw said it had received no official word from Moscow about the deployment.

"This is a matter for NATO and we can expect possible consultations and action (...) at the NATO and EU level," it added.

Relations with Russia have been frosty since Poland shed communism in 1989 and went on to join NATO a decade later.

Baltic states Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have also had difficult ties with Moscow since they broke free from the Soviet Union in 1990-91 and joined the EU and NATO in 2004.

"It is clear that it is alarming news as it is one of the arguments changing balance of powers in our region," Latvia's Defense Minister Artis Pabriks said Monday, quoted by the Baltic News Service (BNS).

"It does not change the balance of power between NATO and Russia, but it changes balance of power in the region. It threatens several Baltic cities," he added.

He was echoed by Estonia and Lithuania whose defense ministers termed the move both "alarming" and "cause for concern".

Germany's Bild newspaper first reported over the weekend that Russia had deployed about 10 Iskander systems in its Kaliningrad exclave, wedged between Poland and Lithuania, at some point over the past 12 months.

A top Russian defense official said in response to the report that several Iskander batteries had been stationed in Russia's Western Military District -- a region that includes the exclave and also borders the European Union's three Baltic nations that were once a part of the USSR.

"Iskander operational-tactical missile systems have indeed been commissioned by the Western Military District's missile and artillery forces," Russian news agencies quoted defense ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov as saying.

He added that Russia's deployment "does not violate any international treaties or agreements" and should therefore not be subject to protests from the West.

The Kremlin warned in 2011 that it could station the short- and medium-range ballistic missiles along the European Union's eastern frontier in response to NATO's missile defense program.

Both the United States and the Western military alliance have argued that the shield is not aimed at Russia but is designed to protect the West from potential threats from so-called "rogue states".

But Moscow fears the system -- whose components include missile-positioning satellites -- may one day be turned into an offensive weapon that targets Russian soil.

The Kremlin also believes the shield could in the future be expanded to a point that makes Russia's own vast nuclear arsenal ineffective.

A report prepared by the U.S.-based Stratfor global intelligence consultancy and published by the WikiLeaks website said most Iskander missiles had previously been stationed in Siberia and the volatile North Caucasus region.

Stratfor added that the long-mooted but never-before implemented "Kaliningrad decision is highly political, since (the Iskander) could reach into Germany or take out any American (ballistic missile defense) system".

The advanced version of the missile -- known as the Iskander-M -- was one of Russia's first major post-Soviet weapons and is now among its most prized military exports.

Russian military analysts said cash constraints have prevented the armed forces from deploying as many Iskander systems as originally envisioned.

Startfor estimated that only 60 Iskanders will have been "produced and implemented" by 2015 -- far too few to pose a serious threat to the West.

But the analysts added that the Kremlin appears to be trying to use the threat of a potential attack to influence public opinion in nations such as Poland against the NATO defense shield.

"What they are doing resembles a propaganda campaign," said military affairs writer Pavel Felgenhauer.

"They hope that the Poles will get frightened and come out against the deployment of U.S. rockets," he said.

Felgenhauer noted that the Czech Republic had already announced in 2011 that it was withdrawing from NATO's missile defense program out of fear of a possible Russian attack.

But Alexander Konovalov of Moscow's Institute Strategic Assessment said the decision to deploy Iskanders closer to EU borders could leave Russia exposed in far more dangerous regions along its southern and eastern flanks.

"If they move all the Iskanders to the west, there will not be enough left to protect our southern and eastern borders, where they are really needed," Konovalov said.