MOSCOW – Russia’s military announced on Thursday that it has deployed warplanes armed with cutting-edge hypersonic missiles in the country’s westernmost Baltic region, a move amid rising tensions with the West over Moscow’s actions in Ukraine.
The Russian Defense Ministry said three MiG-31 fighters with Kinzhal hypersonic missiles have arrived at Chkalovsk air base in the Baltic Sea exclave of Kaliningrad as part of “additional strategic deterrent measures”.
The ministry said the warplanes would be put on 24-hour alert.
Video released by the Department of Defense showed the fighters arriving at the base but not carrying the missiles, which appear to have been delivered separately.
The Finnish Defense Ministry said Thursday that two Russian MIG-31 fighter jets are suspected of violating Finnish airspace in the Gulf of Finland off the southern city of Porvoo, west of Helsinki. The Nordic country’s border guard launched a preliminary investigation into the incident.
The deployment of Kinzhal missiles to Kaliningrad as Russia’s campaign in Ukraine approaches its sixth month appeared aimed at demonstrating the Russian military’s ability to threaten NATO assets. The region borders NATO members Poland and Lithuania.
Moscow has sharply criticized the supply of Western arms to Ukraine and accused the US and its allies of fueling the conflict.
The Russian military says the Kinzhal has a range of up to 2,000 kilometers (about 1,250 miles) and flies at 10 times the speed of sound, making it difficult to intercept. Russia has used the weapon to attack multiple targets in Ukraine.
Kaliningrad’s location has put it at the forefront of Moscow’s efforts to counter what it called NATO’s hostile policies. The Kremlin has methodically bolstered its forces there, arming them with cutting-edge weaponry, including precision-guided Iskander missiles and a range of air defense systems.
“Events in Ukraine have shown that a clash with the collective West is a real possibility,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ivan Nechayev said on Thursday, stressing that a “direct confrontation with the US and NATO is not in is in our interest”.
At a briefing, Nechayev said, “Russia, as a nuclear power, will continue to act with maximum responsibility” and “Russian military doctrine provides for a nuclear response only in retaliation for an aggression with weapons of mass destruction or in a situation where the existence of the state is.” threatened.”
The Russian military is equipped with conventional weapons that “allow it to fully implement the goals set by the Russian President,” he added.
“We assume that the US and NATO are aware of where their aggressive anti-Russian rhetoric emphasizing the possible use of nuclear weapons can lead,” Nechayev said.
He said Russia believes that “a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought,” a view reiterated by five nuclear powers earlier this year.