NATO, Russia Spar Over Missile Deployment in Eastern Europe

NATO Insists Defensive Missile Deployment Is 'Aggressive'

NATO and the Russian Federation have continued their trend of arguing over their respective forces in Eastern Europe, and today it focused on yesterday’s announcement that Russia is deploying Iskander missiles and S-400 air defense systems into Eastern Europe.

Russian officials say putting the missiles in the exclave of Kaliningrad was in response to NATO’s buildup in the Baltics, as well as the US missile defense shield installation in the area. NATO insists the deployment of the S-400 defensive missiles is an “aggressive” act.

Russian officials rejected the complaints about their deployment, insisting they have every right to deploy military fear into Kaliningrad, which borders both Poland and Lithuania, both NATO members that are at the center of the NATO buildup.

NATO has some 300,000 troops in the Baltics along the Russian frontier, a deployment described as a “spearhead” force intended to stop an imminent Russian invasion of Eastern Europe, which NATO officials have been hyping as imminent for over two years now. Russia has said the large deployments are calling into question  NATO’s decision-making in the region, obliging them to shore up their defenses.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.