MOSCOW, November 22. /TASS/. The United States is creating a security threat by saturating Europe with its armaments, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Major-General Igor Konashenkov said on Tuesday.
The Defense Ministry spokesman thus commented on a statement by the US State Department that Russia was deploying S-400 antiaircraft missile systems and Iskander tactical missile complexes in its Kaliningrad Region.
"A real security threat today is posed not by Russia but by Europe’s saturation with armaments and servicemen of far from European origin," the spokesman said.
The general mentioned the construction and deployment of US missile shield facilities in Poland and Romania and the upcoming deployment of NATO’s combat units mostly composed of US servicemen in Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Poland, as well as the dispatch of US marines to Russia’s neighbor Norway in the imminent future.
"One shouldn’t be a rear admiral to understand a simple thing: all current threats to European security are a consequence of the US military policy implemented in the past 10 years," Konashenkov said.
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US State Department spokesperson Rear Admiral John Kirby said earlier the deployment of Russia’s S-400 antiaircraft missile systems and Iskander tactical missile complexes to Kaliningrad "is destabilizing to European security."
"I wouldn’t be a bad thing for the former rear admiral of the US Navy and now the spokesperson of the US State Department to know that the Kaliningrad Region is an integral part of the Russian Federation," the general said.
"Possibly, the issues of ensuring national security of the United States and deploying American army units on the territory of that country are no longer the competence of the US president and are decided by way of discussions or voting with his counterparts from other countries. However, security provision in the Russian Federation is the prerogative of only the leadership of our country. That is why, you’d better keep for yourselves all the claims and wishes about where, when, with what means and how we must ensure our security on our territory," the Russian Defense Ministry spokesman said.