Communist Bloc Military Updates: General: Russia may pull out of intermediate range missile treaty

The USSR2 deployed intermediate range missiles in the Kaliningrad Oblast in 2001. (See earlier blog and second article below.) This announcement is merely a Kremlin feint to obscure a fait accompli. The entrance of "ex"-Warsaw Pact countries Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic into NATO, by the way, is part of Moscow's long-range strategic deception as it provides the USSR2 with a pretext for a preemptive strike against the West.

The Russian road-mobile Iskander/SS-X-26 intermediate-range missile is pictured above.

General: Russia considers pulling out of missile treaty
(03.01.06, 19:33)

A Russian general warned that Russia might consider opting out of a U.S.-Soviet arms treaty that scrapped intermediate range missiles, a newspaper reported Wednesday.

The daily Nezavisimaya Gazeta quoted Gen. Vladimir Vasilenko, the head of the Defense Ministry’s research institute, as saying that Russia could consider the redeployment of intermediate range missiles, which were scrapped under a landmark treaty signed in 1987 by President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. (AP)

Link: Ynetnews.com

Nordic media claim confirmation of Russian missiles in Kalingrad
AP WorldStream
Wednesday, March 07, 2001 10:07:00 AM
By DOUG MELLGREN Associated Press Writer

OSLO, Norway (AP) -- U.S. intelligence has comprehensive evidence that Russia moved nuclear weapons into its Kaliningrad province closer to Western Europe, a leading Norwegian newspaper claimed Wednesday.

The news media in neighboring Sweden made similar claims. For months, Russia has denied reports that it secretly moved atomic weapons into Kaliningrad. The enclave is a Baltic Sea port between Poland and Lithuania on a sliver of territory not connected to the rest of Russia.

U.S. officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity in January, said there were strong indications of such a deployment, but Washington has offered no public confirmation.

The respected Oslo newspaper Aftenposten said top military officers in Norway -- a NATO member -- confirmed the existence of U.S. intelligence reports on the deployment and said the reports cover a Russian nuclear weapons buildup in the Baltic Sea area.

Moscow opposed the 1999 expansion of NATO to include Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic, and it fears that a possible expansion to include the former Soviet Baltic states Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia could be a potential military threat.

Aftenposten said the weapons were transported to the Russian port of St. Petersburg on a special train, then shipped to Kaliningrad on Russian navy ships. The newspaper said all top Norwegian officers it talked to confirmed the report, but they refused to go on the record.

The Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet said Tuesday that U.S. satellites tracked the weapons on that route to a Kaliningrad airfield.

"There are nuclear weapons there," a U.S. government representative was quoted as telling Svenska Dagbladet on condition of anonymity.

"If Russia has deployed tactical nuclear arms in Kaliningrad and at the same time denies this, it is very serious," Stefan Noreen of the Swedish government's European Union unit said.

The Norwegian Supreme Defense Command and the Ministry of Defense both declined comment. Ministry spokesman Kirsti Skjerven said weapons referred to by the news media are short range tactical weapons that -- if deployed -- would be stockpiled rather than armed and ready on launch pads.

Link: Latvian Mailer