Russia has warned that the deployment of US intermediate- and shorter-range missile systems in Norway will place the systems, their command facilities and supporting infrastructure under heightened scrutiny by Russia’s strategic deterrence forces.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova described the deployment as part of what Moscow considers a series of “highly destabilizing” actions by NATO, warning that it could further undermine prospects for strategic dialogue between Russia and the United States.
“We have repeatedly and in detail explained that favorable conditions for substantive and productive strategic dialogue with the United States have not been created. And steps such as the deployment in Europe of US ground-based intermediate- and shorter-range missiles that threaten the Russian Federation will, to put it mildly, nullify the prerequisites for constructive talks with the US on strategic issues,” Zakharova said.
She said Washington and Oslo should not be surprised if the missile sites become a focus of Russia’s response measures.
“Therefore, it should come as no surprise to those in Washington and Oslo who made the decision to deploy these systems in Norway that, as part of Russia’s response measures, the locations of the US missile systems and their command facilities, as well as the infrastructure supporting them, will receive particular attention from the Russian Federation’s strategic deterrence forces. This includes planning for the combat use of relevant strike weapons in the event of an armed conflict,” the statement noted.
Zakharova also highlighted the capabilities of the systems, saying they are based on Mk-41 launch cells and can fire missiles designed to strike both land and maritime targets.
“We also take into account that these systems can be used to launch long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles,” she said, adding that their deployment in Norway allows them to “cover” a significant part of European Russia, including Moscow.
By Vafa Guliyeva
