Russia moves missiles within range of Berlin

RUSSIA has moved nuclear- capable missiles near to the Polish border as tensions escalate between the world’s largest nation and the West.

The Iskander missiles sent to Kaliningrad, a Russian enclave on the Baltic Sea between Nato members Poland and Lithuania, are within range from there of major Western cities including Berlin.

Polish officials – whose capital Warsaw is potentially threatened – have described the move as of the ‘highest concern’.

Germany’s foreign minister said the situation between Russia and the West was more dangerous than during the Cold War. ‘It’s a fallacy to think that this is like the Cold War. The current times are different and more dangerous,’ Frank-Walter Steinmeier told German newspaper Bild.

German diplomat and security expert Wolfgang Ischinger told the newspaper there was ‘considerable danger of a military confrontation’.

He added: ‘This danger has not been as strong in decades and the confidence between West and East has never been so low.’

Iskander missiles have a range of up to 440 miles (700km). Their deployment in Kaliningrad comes amid deep divisions between Moscow and the West over Syria where Russia and the regime of Bashar al-Assad have been bombing rebel-held districts. Russia has shrugged off concerns about the Iskander missiles, saying they have been deployed in Kaliningrad before and are there now as part of a routine military drill.

But Estonia’s chief of defence, Lieutenant General Riho Terras, said he believed Russia was attempting to dominate the Baltic Sea.

He said: ‘In the long term, Russia’s wish is to bring the Baltic Sea and the passages leading to it more and more under its control, and to control it much like it does the Black Sea.’

Kaliningrad is vital to Russia’s strategic position. It is the westernmost part of Russia and is home to its Baltic Fleet as well as fighters and helicopters.

Lithuania’s foreign minister Linas Linkevicius said: ‘The deployment not only increases tensions in the region, but also possibly violates international treaties which limit deployment of ballistic missiles of range of over 500 kilometres.’

He said the matter would be discussed in a Nato- Russia council meeting.

A US intelligence official said the deployment could be a way by Russia of expressing contempt towards Nato. US Secretary of State John Kerry has said Russia and the Syrian regime should be investigated for war crimes over civilian deaths in Syria.