U.S. Raises Concerns Over Russia's Baltic Missiles

Dec. 16, 2013 7:32 p.m. ETU.S. officials said they have communicated concerns to Russia that its deployment of nuclear-capable missiles in its Baltic Sea exclave of Kaliningrad would have a destabilizing effect on the region bordering Europe.
Russia recently moved short-range Iskander missiles into Kaliningrad, the State Department said on Monday. The State Department didn’t say when or precisely where the missiles were deployed or how the Obama administration had communicated its concerns.
“We’ve shared with Russia the concerns that countries in the neighborhood have…regarding Russia’s deployment of the Iskander missiles in Kaliningrad. We’ve urged Moscow to take no steps to destabilize the region,” said Marie Harf, deputy State Department spokeswoman.
Kaliningrad isn’t contiguous with Russia. It shares borders with Poland and Lithuania. Both of those countries, members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, also expressed concern on Monday about the Russian deployments, the Associated Press reported.
Ms. Harf said the missile deployment occurred fairly recently, and said U.S. officials would continue discussing the issue with Moscow.
Russian officials have said in the past that the country would deploy missiles in response to U.S.-led NATO missile-defense plans in Europe. The U.S. expects to put land-based missile interceptors in northern Poland by 2018 as part of a system to defend against Iran.
“We certainly know that countries in the neighborhood have expressed concerns over it, and we’ll keep talking to them about it going forward,” she said.
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel spoke to Russian Minister of Defense Sergey Shoygu on Monday, defense officials said, but didn’t discuss the deployment.
Defense officials said the deployment of missiles in Kaliningrad wasn’t a new issue for the military and so wasn’t on the secretary’s agenda.
“They have been there for a while,” a U.S. military officer said of the Russian missiles.
Carl Woog, the spokesman for Mr. Hagel, said the two men discussed a related issue, missile defense, and agreed to additional talks and consultations on that issue.
Previous U.S. missile-defense plans in the region prompted protests from Russia that the system represented a challenge to Moscow.
Write to Julian E. Barnes at julian.barnes@wsj.com

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