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Moscow suspects US of planning to deploy nuclear-capable frontline aviation near Russia

Joint NATO drills in Estonia will start the functioning of a US Air Force training center at Amari air base close to the Russian border
F-16 fighter jet at the opening of a facility for NATO Air Policing mission at Amari Air Force base in Estonia EPA/VALDA KALNINA
F-16 fighter jet at the opening of a facility for NATO Air Policing mission at Amari Air Force base in Estonia
© EPA/VALDA KALNINA

MOSCOW, March 26 /TASS/. The US and NATO may be planning to deploy frontline aviation capable of carrying nuclear weapons on Estonia’s border with Russia, Russian Foreign Ministry said on Thursday.

"We are particularly concerned with the fact that the Estonian Defense Ministry believes that these exercises [Atlantic Resolve] will start the functioning of a US Air Force training center at Amari air base," Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said.

According to him, that could signal that separate NATO countries had plans to permanently deploy frontline aviation capable of carrying nuclear weapons on the border with Russia.

"The gradual buildup of US combat potential on Russian frontiers as part of NATO plans to increase its military presence and develop infrastructure on the so-called eastern flank, in the wake of decisions adopted at the NATO summit in Wales, are not only provoking tensions in a region, which has been the most stable region in Europe for decades, but is fraught with long-term negative consequences," Lukashevich stressed.