The two divisions in the western military district are likely meant to counter increased North Atlantic Treaty Organisation troop numbers in the Baltics and Poland while the additional division in the southern division will increase Russia’s presence along its border with Ukraine, he said.
Advertisement
Russian military moves in recent weeks have included flight maneuvers by Russian jets that simulated attacks on a US warship in the Baltic Sea, and an interceptions by Russian warplanes of USA reconnaissance planes flying over worldwide waters.
Speaking at joint press briefing with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said the United States should respect “legitimate concerns” of China and Russia over the missile system. “I am afraid this would require certain retaliatory measures, which the Russian Defence Ministry is already talking about”. And therefore we will continue to respond’.
Russian Federation – which first announced the creation of the new divisions in January – has consistently accused the US-led military alliance of trying to contain it ever since the collapse of the Soviet Union opened up the former Eastern Bloc.
Earlier there were reports in the Russian media that three new divisions with 10,000 troops each may be deployed in Rostov-on-Don, the Smolensk Region and the Voronezh Region, the Russia Today television reported.
“We didn’t have any troops in Baltic countries… before the illegal annexation of Crimea and Russia’s destabilising activities in eastern Ukraine”, he told journalists in Belgium while presenting the alliance’s new Europe commander General Curtis Scaparrotti.
“Now, I’ll take a look at that as the SACEUR, specifically because I need to assess what weapons are best, what capabilities they can use, what capabilities are complementary to their forces today”, Scaparrotti said.
Advertisement
This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
