Russia to take measures if Ukraine hosts foreign missile defense elements — Kremlin

MOSCOW, May 19. /TASS/. Russia will take measures to protect its own security if Ukraine hosts components of a foreign missile defense system, presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said.

"If the point at issue is Ukraine’s wish to host US missile defense components, of course this can be perceived only negatively, because that would pose a threat to Russia’s security," he said, adding he was not well familiar with such statements by Ukrainian officials.

"This will entail the need for taking retaliatory measures that would ensure Russia’s security," he said, adding that for the time being such speculations were "eventual."

The head of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council said on Wednesday that he did not rule out consultations over the possibility of deploying a missile defense system in his country to counter what he described as "a nuclear threat posed by Russia."

"I do not rule out that to defend ourselves from [Russia’s] nuclear threat, we will have to hold consultations on deploying missile defense system components in Ukrainian territory," he said, adding that: "To prevent a war involving nuclear weapons is a shared responsibility of all people of good will towards the planet."

Turchynov once again accused Russia of placing nuclear weapons in Crimea

The Kremlin said last month that Western media publications on the alleged nuclear threat from Russia should not be taken seriously.

"That’s a classic example of the continuing hysteria in demonising this country," Dmitry Peskov, Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman, said, adding that they were fanning tensions themselves in media "without being guided by any specific information, and then they get scared over what they have written".

"Of course, such publications should not be taken seriously," Peskov said.