MOSCOW, January 10. /TASS/. Ukraine continues provocations on the border near Crimea and Russia takes steps to ensure security of its territory, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, commenting on the reports about the S-400 missile systems’ deployment to the peninsula.
"We know that both provocations and subversive activities continue on the Russian-Ukrainian border near Crimea," Peskov said.
"That’s why Russia’s adoption of all the necessary measures to protect its security should not be viewed as a threat for anyone. This should be perceived as ensuring its own security and, certainly, Russia has a full sovereign right to do this," he said.
In late December, Air Force and Air Defense Fourth Army commander Lieutenant General Viktor Sevostyanov said two battalions with S-400 air defense systems will take up combat duty in Crimea in early 2018. One of the regiments deployed to Crimea has already received the S-400 system, he said.
Russia’s S-400 Triumf (NATO reporting name: SA-21 Growler) is the latest long-range antiaircraft missile system that went into service in 2007. It is designed to destroy aircraft, cruise and ballistic missiles, including medium-range missiles, and surface targets.
In August 2016, Russia’s Federal Security Service said a group of saboteurs were detained in Crimea and a series of terrorist attacks by Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate of the Defense Ministry were foiled. The saboteurs had plotted attacks on vital infrastructure facilities of the peninsula, according to the special services.