Russian missile plans condemned

WESTERN POWERS have condemned Russian plans to deploy missiles close to Baltic members of the EU and Nato, in what analysts see as the Kremlin's first challenge to US president-elect Barack Obama.

President Dmitry Medvedev said he would station Iskander rockets in the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad, which is wedged between Poland and Lithuania, to counter elements of a missile defence shield that Washington wants to build in Poland and the Czech Republic.

The Pentagon insists that the Czech radar and the Polish missile silo are intended to track and shoot down long-range rockets fired from "rogue states" like Iran. Moscow is convinced, however, that the system would spy on Russia and weaken its missile deterrent.

In response to the missile shield, which the US military hopes will be operational by 2013-14, Mr Medvedev said Russia would also employ electronic jamming of the system and would cancel plans to stand-down three nuclear missile regiments.

"If you are going to put missiles in Kaliningrad that is not going to increase security in Europe," said the EU's external relations commissioner, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, who called Mr Medvedev's announcement "an unpleasant surprise".

Nato spokesman Robert Pszczel said the deployment of Iskander missiles "would not help Nato and Russia improve their relationship". "If confirmed, it would raise serious worries concerning the conformity with existing arms control arrangements which are important for European security," he added.

Iskanders carry conventional warheads for up to 280km, but experts believe Russia may have developed a version with a range of about 500km.

This could breach the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty, signed by Moscow and Washington in 1987 and banning missiles with ranges of 500-5,500 kilometres, from which Russia has already threatened to withdraw. Last year, Moscow suspended participation in the Conventional Forces in Europe treaty, which limits troop numbers and military equipment in Europe.

A US state department spokesman called the Kremlin's plans "disappointing", and said he hoped that "one day they'll realise" that Russia is not the target of the shield.

Lithuanian president Valdas Adamkus said it was "difficult to understand" Mr Medvedev's intentions, because he "talks about the commitment to act together against our common threats, but sends missiles to Kaliningrad to neutralise an anti-missile defence system".

Polish prime minister Donald Tusk played down the security implications of any deployment in Kaliningrad, calling it "a new political step, not a military one".

Analysts said Mr Medvedev was trying to put immediate pressure on Mr Obama, who has not unequivocally supported plans for the missile defence system.