Lithuania on Monday accused Russia of deploying nuclear-capable ballistic missiles to its Kaliningrad exclave on the Baltic, as relations between Moscow and the West sink to post-Cold War lows.
Russia has previously sent Iskander missiles to Kaliningrad for drills, but Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite said that this time they were being deployed for a “permanent presence”. Continue reading
Tanks of the Polish and German armed forces participate in the NATO Noble Jump military exercises in Zagan, Poland, on June 18. (Sean Gallup/Getty Images)
American soldiers rolled into Poland on Thursday, fulfilling a dream some Poles have had since the fall of communism in 1989 to have U.S. troops on their soil as a deterrent against Russia.
Some people waved and held up American flags as U.S. troops in tanks and other vehicles crossed into southwestern Poland from Germany and headed toward the town of Zagan, where they will be based. Poland’s prime minister and defense minister will welcome them in an official ceremony Saturday.
“This is the fulfilment of a dream,” said Michal Baranowski, director of the German Marshall Fund think tank in Warsaw. “And this is not just a symbolic presence but one with a real capability.” Continue reading
Kalingrad in eastern Europe
EXCLUSIVE: VLADIMIR PUTIN has stoked tensions on Nato’s doorstep as Russia silently rolls tanks across his Baltic enclave located in the heart of Europe.
The Russian President has been accused of manufacturing ‘casus belli’ – the justification of war – as he heavily militarises Kaliningrad as part of a “hybrid-war” to destabilise and intimidate Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia.
Russia’s Baltic territory Kaliningrad, wedged between the three baltic countries and Poland, has recently had scores of missiles deployed to the area.
The Soviets have made good on their threat to deploy. Since at least 2014 they have been ready to launch a rapid war from Kaliningrad.
Russia has deployed nuclear-capable Iskander missiles in its western-most region, Kaliningrad, which borders on Nato members Poland and Lithuania.
Poland said the development was of the “highest concern”, adding it was monitoring the situation.
Russia’s defence ministry said the new deployment was part of military exercises and had happened before. Continue reading
Steven Pifer, former US ambassador to Ukraine, hit the nail on the head with his assessment on how Moscow operates. They claim their moves are a counter-move to the West, however, their plans were made long beforehand. They provoke nations into making a move, then claim to be the victim and respond accordingly. They’re having their cake and eating it, too. They are experts at this type of deception.
Kaliningrad will host the missiles
RUSSIA plans to station advanced nuclear-capable missiles deep inside Europe – putting vast swathes of the continent in the crosshairs of Moscow’s short-range ballistic missile programme.
Kremlin insiders say the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad – on the Baltic Sea wedged between Poland and Lithuania – will host the Iskander missile – dubbed the Stone by Nato.
Crimea, which was annexed from the Ukraine in 2014, could also host a second Iskander missile base, Russian defence sources claim. Continue reading
It’s important to note that Iskander missiles are nuclear capable. If they’re deployed in Kaliningrad (and some reports said they already have been), which is strategically between Poland and Lithuania, they will have checkmate. Anything in Europe can be reached within five to seven minutes or less.
MOSCOW/WARSAW (Reuters) – A plan by Washington to station tanks and heavy weapons in NATO states on Russia’s border would be the most aggressive U.S. act since the Cold War, and Moscow would retaliate by beefing up its own forces, a Russian defense official said on Monday.
The United States is offering to store military equipment on allies’ territory in eastern Europe, a proposal aimed at reassuring governments worried that after the conflict in Ukraine, they could be the Kremlin’s next target.
Poland and the Baltic states, where officials say privately they have been frustrated the NATO alliance has not taken more decisive steps to deter Russia, welcomed the decision by Washington to take the lead. Continue reading
Poland will build six watchtowers to survey its 200-kilometre-long border with the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad, the police said Monday. Continue reading
MOSCOW — Russia plans to station state-of-the art missiles in its westernmost Baltic exclave and deploy nuclear-capable bombers to Crimea as part of massive war games to showcase its resurgent military power amid bitter tensions with the West over Ukraine.
The Russian military exercises this week range from the Arctic to the Pacific Ocean and involve tens of thousands of troops, the Defence Ministry said Tuesday. Continue reading
The current figures are in violation of the New START treaty, signed in 2010 by Barack Obama and then-President Dmitry Medvedev, during the short-lived reset in relations between the two states, which prescribe a limit of 1,550 deployed warheads.Overall, the authoritative Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation believes Moscow has more than 8,000 warheads, and Washington over 7,000, although not all of them can be allocated to efficient delivery systems.
Russia recently announced a planned overhaul of its entire nuclear arsenal by 2020, as part of a wider rearmament program that has been budgeted at $700 billion.
MOSCOW, June 2 (RIA Novosti) – Russian armed forces are conducting a routine check of the military units in the country’s Western Military District, equipped with long-range high-precision Iskander missiles, the Ministry of Defense stated Monday.
From May 27 to June 5, missile troops of the Western Military District will take part in the war games together with the Long-Range Aviation Command. The troops are equipped with tactical ballistic missile system Iskander-M and long-range aircraft. Continue reading
Long-range ballistic, cruise missiles launched
Russia’s armed forces conducted a “massive” nuclear forces exercise on Thursday simulating NATO and U.S. nuclear attacks and involving several long-range ballistic and cruise missile firings.
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The exercises were monitored by Russian President Vladimir Putin and coincided with May 9 anniversary celebrations marking the victory in World War II. Continue reading
What likely transpired here is both a ‘signal’ that the EU will not swipe Ukraine away from the Kremlin, and that it can intimidate Europe because it can. The fight for Ukraine has also been going on for years (i.e. Orange Revolution) and is not just a recent event. The Russians, as they were in the past, are masters at turning their provocations around and making it like they’re the injured party. In this case, it’s also NATO fault because of the missile shield. If you want to get deeper in context, it could also be argued that this is a hidden war between Moscow and Berlin, two countries who have always fought over eastern Europe and the Balkans because both realize this is the key to entering the opposition’s territory.
One might scoff at the idea, and that’s fine, but history always repeats itself. Moscow hasn’t changed since the introduction of Leninism, Marxism and Communism — and as Margaret Thatcher had once said: Instead of anchoring Germany to Europe, Europe has been anchored to Germany. Germany is in full control of Europe again and one only has to compare its history to what’s going on today.
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia has deployed Iskander missiles with a range of hundreds of kilometers in its Baltic Sea enclave of Kaliningrad, which borders NATO members Poland and Lithuania, the newspaper Izvestia reported on Monday.
The Izvestia report came after the German newspaper Bild reported on Saturday that secret satellite imagery showed Iskander-M missiles stationed near the Polish border. Continue reading
On Dec. 5, the first American, Dutch and German Patriot missiles landed in Turkey.
Within hours, three Russian warships had put into Syria’s Tartus port – the Novocherkassk and Saratov landing craft and the MB-304 supply vessel. Aboard were 300 marines. And not only fighting men. They also delivered a fearsome weapon for Assad’s army and a game changer in the Syrian conflict: 24 Iskander 9K720 (NATO codenamed SS-26 Stone) cruise missile systems, designed for theater level conflicts.
While NATO unpacked the Patriots in Turkey, a dozen mobile batteries, each carrying a pair of Iskander missiles, were fixed into position opposite Turkey, and another dozen, opposite Jordan and Israel.
At all their stations, the Russian missiles pointed at US military targets. Continue reading
The deadlier the Syrian arsenal, the higher chance of being able to effectively strike back. The higher chance of being able to effectively strike back, the higher probability Damascus will be flattened. Point being: Dictator or not, and no one questions that Bashar al Assad is a bad man, this is a man who will not back down.
What makes him more dangerous is that he saw what happened with Saddam Hussein, Hosni Mubarak and then Muammar Gaddafi. He knows surrendering is a concrete death sentence.
He is nearly cornered with his back against the wall and will more than likely choose to use every means necessary to defend his corrupt regime. And by defence, we’re talking the use of WMDs. WMDs are the proverbial “line in the sand” and once they are used, all bets are off — ergo, Damascus shall be no more as foretold in Isaiah 17:1.
Hours after NATO agreed on Tuesday to send Patriot missiles to Turkey because of the crisis in Syria, Russia delivered its first shipment of Iskander missiles to Syria.
The superior Iskander can travel at hypersonic speed of over 1.3 miles per second (Mach 6-7) and has a range of over 280 miles with pinpoint accuracy of destroying targets with its 1,500-pound warhead, a nightmare for any missile defense system.
Further sealing the deal that this war was a long time in the making before the decision to invade. Georgia was essentially going to be Europe’s energy cooridor, with help of building infrastructure from the United States, that would decrease dependence from Russia — and also relieve pressure from the Soviet Union’s dominate political leverage which has been displayed by shutting off the energy resource transit pipelines (at will) that run from Ukraine to Europe, thus leaving European nations cold during the winters in previous years. The Soviet-Georgian war was never about a hostile regime in Georgia, a pocket-sized country with a population of roughly only 4.7 million.
Putin’s press service immediately confirmed the “Lost Day” as a genuine documentary. After a meeting with his Armenian counterpart, Serzh Sargsyan, in the Kremlin, Putin confirmed to journalists the accuracy of some of the “Lost Day” allegations. According to Putin, the plan to invade Georgia was prepared in advance and “the Russian side acted within the framework of that plan.” The General Staff of the Armed Forces prepared the plan of military action against Georgia “at the end of 2006, and I authorized it in 2007,” continued Putin. According to the plan, heavy weaponry and troops were prepared and mobilized for the coming invasion. As part of the Russian Defense Ministry plan, Ossetian separatist forces were trained and armed to act as auxiliary forces in the preplanned engagement with the Georgian military. According to Putin, “Our military specialists believed they [Ossetian separatist militias] could not provide assistance in a clash of regular armies, but they turned out to be much needed.” Putin confirmed he phoned from Beijing several times on August 7 and 8, 2008 to talk with Medvedev and Serdyukov (RIA Novosti, August 8).
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This week, while commemorating the anniversary of the war in Tskhinvali, Medvedev rejected the narrative of the “Lost Day” film, announcing that the decision to use force against Georgia was taken “at the right time” and “the decision of a rocket attack was taken at 4 a.m., August 8 [2008].” In the passage about an authorized rocket attack, Medvedev is apparently referring to the order to attack Georgian cities and military bases with ballistic Tochka-M and Iskander missiles. According to Medvedev, “Those who speak different, do not know, or are lying – such decisions are taken by only one man, the Commander-in-Chief, and that was me.” Medvedev insisted the decision was not easy “since we recognized until August 26 [2008] the foreign state of Georgia [with sovereignty over Abkhazia and South Ossetia].” Medvedev added, “We had special relations with Abkhazia and South Ossetia, but also talked about the territorial integrity of Georgia, though we understood this was practically impossible” (Interfax, August 9).
The “Lost Day” film and the comments by Putin and Medvedev have revealed a great deal: that the invasion of Georgia in August 2008 was indeed a preplanned aggression and that so-called “Russian peacekeepers” in South Ossetia and Abkhazia were in fact the vanguard of the invading forces that were in blatant violation of Russia’s international obligations and were training and arming the separatist forces. The admission by Putin that Ossetian separatist militias acted as an integral part of the Russian military plan transfers legal responsibility for acts of ethnic cleansing of Georgian civilians and mass marauding inside and outside of South Ossetia to the Russian military and political leadership. Putin’s admission of the prewar integration of the Ossetian separatist militias into the Russian General Staff war plan puts into question the integrity of the independent European Union war report, written by Swiss diplomat Heidi Tagliavini that accused the Georgians of starting the war and attacking Russian “peacekeepers,” which, according to Tagliavini, warranted a Russian military response (www.ceiig.ch/pdf/IIFFMCG_Volume_I.pdf).
After agreeing not to seek reelection for a second term as President and becoming Prime Minister last May, Medvedev has been visibly sidelined on the Moscow political scene and has been struggling to assert himself. The “Lost Day,” which praises Putin as the great statesman and brands Medvedev a coward, has been interpreted as a move by Putin’s entourage in the Kremlin to undermine Medvedev and possibly initiate his ouster (Moskovsky Komsomolets, August 9).
In response to the “Lost Day” controversy, the Georgian Foreign Ministry has issued a statement calling the international community to “demand from Russia nonuse of force against Georgia” (www.newsgeorgia.ru, August 9). However, Putin does not seem to expect any censure from Brussels or Washington, where the Barack Obama administration is continuing to appease Moscow with its luckless “reset” policy. Most likely the Russian General Staff today has another “plan” of invading and occupying the rest of Georgia, while the decision to go and when, as last time, will be decided by the same one person – Putin.
Full article: Putin Confirms the Invasion of Georgia Was Preplanned (Jamestown Foundation)
Global Geopolitics 