Russia to counter US deployment of long-range missiles in Germany

Russia will act to counter the planned US deployment of long-range missiles in Germany, the Kremlin said on Thursday, as it regarded the NATO military alliance's actions as a serious threat to Russia's national security.

The United States and Germany announced at a NATO summit in Washington on Wednesday that they would begin deploying long-range fire capabilities in Germany in 2026 to demonstrate their commitment to NATO and European defence at a time when Russia is waging war in Ukraine.

They said the "episodic deployments" were in preparation for longer-term stationing that would include SM-6, Tomahawk cruise missiles and hypersonic weapons with a longer range than current capabilities in Europe.

NATO also said on Wednesday that a new US air defence base in northern Poland, designed to detect and intercept ballistic missile attacks as part of a broader NATO missile shield, was mission-ready.

Asked at a briefing with Russian news agencies about the outcome of the NATO summit, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: "The North Atlantic alliance has once again very clearly confirmed its essence. It is an alliance created in an era of confrontation with the aim of maintaining confrontation.

"Tensions on the European continent are escalating" as a result, he added, saying the Kremlin was watching as NATO's military infrastructure crept closer.

"We see the decisions taken in NATO to create separate logistics hubs in Black Sea cities, the opening of additional facilities in Europe, and we see that in fact NATO's military infrastructure is constantly and incrementally moving towards our borders," said Peskov.

"This obliges us to analyse very deeply the decisions taken in the discussion that took place. This is a very serious threat to the national security of our country. All of this will require us to take thoughtful, coordinated, effective responses to deter NATO, to counteract NATO."