Russia sends a Sizzler to the Baltic

Russia reinforcing its fleet in Kaliningrad with 2 warships armed with long-range cruise missiles

Moscow/Stockholm, Oct 26: Russia is reinforcing its Baltic Fleet in Kaliningrad with two small warships armed with long-range cruise missiles to counter what it sees as a worrying Nato build-up in the region, Russia’s daily Izvestia reported on Wednesday.

There was no official confirmation from Moscow, but the report will raise tensions in the Baltic already heightened since Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea and is likely to cause particular consternation in Poland and Lithuania which share land borders with Kaliningrad.

The reported deployment comes at a time when Nato is planning its biggest military build-up on Russia’s borders sincethe Cold War to counter Moscow and Russian military analysts said the move looked like a direct response to Nato.

Izvestia cited an unnamed military source as saying that the two ships, the Serpukhov and the Zeleny Dol, had already entered the Baltic Sea and would soon become part of a newly formeddivision.

The Russian defence ministry said earlier this month that the two ships had left their Black Sea base to join Russia’s naval force in the Mediterranean.

The Buyan-class corvettes are armed with nuclear-capable Kalibr cruise missiles, known by the Nato code name Sizzler, which the Russian military says have a range of at least 1,500 kilometres

Though variants of the missile are capable of carrying nuclear warheads, the ships are believed to be carrying conventional war heads. Izvestia said Baltic Fleet, would probably receive three small warships by 2020. Moscow, Oct. 26: The Russian embassy in Spain confirmed on Wednesday that Moscow had withdrawn a request for a group of warships to refuel in the Spanish port of Ceuta, the RIA news agency reported.

It did not give a reason for the change of heart. The battle group is expected to take part in Russia’s military operation in Syria and Madrid was under pressure from Nato allies to refuse to refuel it. Spain had earlier reviewed a request by a Russian flotilla to refuel in its North African enclave of Ceuta, the foreign ministry said. In Brussels, Nato secretarygeneral Jens Stoltenberg said it was up to Spain to decide whether to refuel a Russian tanker travelling with the carrier battle group.

British defence secretary Michael Fallon said London would be “extremely concerned that any Nato member should consider assisting a Russian carrier group that might end up bombing Syria.” —AP