Iskander ketepatan tinggi sistem peluru berpandu
yang dijalankan pada latihan ketenteraan (Iskander high-precision missile
system in place during military exercises. (RIA Novosti/Alexei Danichev – think
IN pictures @1WORLD Community)
JohnnyAdam – Kementerian
Pertahanan Rusia telah mengesahkan laporan media menge-nai penggunaan jarak
dekat peluru berpandu Iskander di barat negara itu, berdekatan dengan sempadan
dengan negara-negara Baltik dan anggota NATO, mengatakan bahawa ia tidak
melanggar perjanjian antarabangsa.
Akhbar
Jerman Bild menulis hujung minggu ini bahawa Rusia ditempatkan beberapa
Iskander taktikal sistem peluru berpandu balistik - yang mampu membawa kepala
peledak nuklear - di exclave barat sebanyak Kaliningrad, sepanjang sempadan
dengan negara-negara Baltik. Akhbar itu berkata ia diperolehi imej “satelit
rahsia” yang menunjukkan sekurang-kurangnya 10 peluru berpandu Rusia dekat
dengan sempadan Kesatuan Eropah, yang telah dikerahkan sejak setahun lalu.
Mengulas
mengenai perkara itu, Moscow mengesahkan bahawa ia lakukan stesen peluru
berpandu, yang telah ditetapkan oleh NATO sebagai SS- 26 Stone, di rantau ini.
“Roket
dan meriam unit Daerah Tentera Barat benar-benar bersenjatakan Iskander sistem
peluru berpandu taktikal,” Mejar Jeneral Igor Konashenkov, ketua perkhidmatan
akhbar Kementerian Pertahanan, memberitahu pemberita pada hari Isnin.
“Kawasan-kawasan
konkrit penempatan Iskander batalion peluru berpandu di Daerah Tentera Barat
tidak bercanggah sebarang perjanjian antarabangsa atau perjanjian,” katanya,
seperti yang dipetik oleh Interfax.
Menteri
Pertahanan lithuanian Juozas Olekas berkata sebelum ini bahawa beliau bimbang
dengan laporan peluru berpandu Rusia berhampiran sempadan negara itu. Beliau
menam-bah bahawa kerajaan bekas Soviet telah berbincang dengan jiran-jiran dan
rakan-rakan NATO “bagaimana untuk bertindak balas dan melindungi” diri mereka,
kerana “mana-mana insiden itu hipotesis mungkin,” laman web berita Delfi
dilaporkan pada hari Isnin.
Moscow Confirms deployment Of Iskander missiles
on NATO borders
The
Russian Defense Ministry has confirmed media reports on the deployment of
short-range Iskander missiles in the country’s west, near its borders with the
Baltic states and NATO members, saying that it does not violate international
agreements.
German
newspaper Bild wrote this weekend that Russia stationed several Iskander
tactical ballistic missile systems - which are capable of carrying nuclear
warheads - in its westernmost exclave of Kaliningrad, along the border with
Baltic states. The paper said it obtained “secret satellite” images showing at
least 10 Russian missiles close to the EU border, which were deployed over the
past year.
Commenting
on the matter, Moscow confirmed that it did station the missiles, which have
been designated by NATO as SS-26 Stone, in the region.
“Rocket
and artillery units of the Western Military District are really armed with
Iskander tactical missile systems,” Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov, head of the
Defense Ministry’s press service, told reporters on Monday.
“The
concrete areas of the deployment of Iskander missile battalions in the Western
Military District do not contradict any international agreements or treaties,”
he added, as quoted by Interfax.
Lithuanian
Defense Minister Juozas Olekas said earlier that he was concerned over the
reports of Russian missiles near his country’s border. He added that the former
Soviet state had discussed with its neighbors and NATO partners “how to react
and protect” themselves, because “any incidents were hypothetically possible,”
Delfi news website reported on Monday.
Stesen radar Voronezh-DM di Wilayah Kaliningrad. (The
Voronezh-DM radar station in the Kaliningrad Region. (RIA Novosti/Igor Zarembo –
think IN pictures @1WORLD Community)
Jiran
Latvia mendapati tiada ancaman kepada keselamatan dari Iskanders di tempatkan
di rantau Kaliningrad, menurut Menteri Pertahanan Artis Pabriks. “Jaminan NATO
untuk tahap keselamatan agak tinggi,” katanya dalam temu bual dengan LNT pada
hari Isnin, seperti yang dipetik oleh RIA Novosti.
Sementara
itu, Poland berkata ia bimbang tentang penempatan peluru berpandu Rusia
berhampiran sempadan dan bercadang untuk mengadakan rundingan mengenai perkara
itu dengan rakan-rakan pakatan.
Iskanders
telah ditempatkan di rantau ini selama lebih 18 bulan sekarang, kata seorang
pegawai kanan di Kementerian Pertahanan Rusia memberitahu Izvestia setiap hari.
“Semua
kerja-kerja seperti yang dirancang di sana. Saya tidak tahu mengapa orang
Jerman menaikkan menakutkan sekarang,” sumber itu berkata.
Rusia
tidak akan meringankan pembelaannya pada sempadan Eropah, di mana perse-kutuan
ketenteraan barat menyimpan kuasa peluru berpandu strategik, kata timbalan
ketua jawatankuasa pertahanan Duma Negeri, Viktor Zavarzin.
“NATO
memiliki senjata nuklear Amerika taktikal di Eropah. Siapakah yang boleh ia
bertujuan menentang jika tidak Iran? Hanya terhadap kami,” katanya kepada
harian. Pegawai itu menegaskan bahawa peluru berpandu Rusia tidak menimbulkan
ancaman kepada sesiapa. Sebaliknya, mereka adalah semata-mata untuk tujuan
pertahanan.
Penugasan
Iskanders di Kaliningrad datang sebagai tindak balas kepada pembangunan sistem
pertahanan peluru berpandu Amerika Syarikat di Eropah - yang telah lama menjadi
batu penghalang dalam hubungan antara Moscow dan Washington.
Kembali
pada bulan November 2011, apabila Amerika Syarikat tidak bersetuju untuk
membuat pertahanan peluru berpandu yang melindungi projek bersama dengan Rusia,
maka Presiden Dmitry Medvedev mengumumkan rancangan menyapu (sweeping plans) untuk menangani apa
Moscow dianggap sebagai satu ancaman kepada keselamatan negara. Beliau berkata
beliau akan menggunakan sistem serangan di barat dan selatan negara itu, serta
stesen Iskander peluru berpandu di rantau Kaliningrad dalam usaha untuk
menangani risiko yang ditimbulkan oleh Eropah perisai pertahanan peluru
berpandu.
Moscow
telah lama memanggil untuk jaminan sisi undang-undang - bahawa sistem
per-tahanan peluru berpandu tidak akan ditujukan terhadap Rusia, tetapi setakat
ini Amerika Syarikat telah menolak untuk menyampaikan apa-apa janji. Bagi
tahun, keperluan membina pertahanan perisai peluru berpandu di Eropah telah
dibenarkan oleh ancaman yang dilihat dari negara-negara seperti Iran. Walau
bagaimanapun, seperti kontroversi di atas program nuklear Teheran nampaknya
hampir berakhir, Amerika Syarikat tidak mengubah hasratnya.
“Kami
sedar dengan jelas bahawa sistem pertahanan anti-peluru berpandu hanya dipanggil
pertahanan, manakala sebenarnya ia adalah sebahagian besar daripada potensi
serangan strategik,” kata Presiden Vladimir Putin dalam ucapannya (address) kepada
Perhimpunan Persekutuan minggu lepas.
Neighboring
Latvia sees no threat to its security from the Iskanders being stationed in the
Kaliningrad region, according to Defense Minister Artis Pabriks. “NATO
guarantees to us rather high security level,” he said in an interview with LNT
on Monday, as quoted by RIA Novosti.
Meanwhile,
Poland says it is worried about the deployment of Russian missiles near its
border and plans to hold consultations on the matter with alliance partners.
Iskanders
have been stationed in the region for over 18 months now, a senior official at
Russia’s Defense Ministry told Izvestia daily.
“Everything
works as planned there. I don’t know why the Germans are raising a scare now,”
the source noted.
Russia
is not going to ease its defense on European borders, where the western
military alliance keeps its strategic missile forces, said deputy head of the
State Duma’s defense committee, Viktor Zavarzin.
“NATO
has American tactical nuclear weapons in Europe. Who can it be aimed against if
not Iran? Only against us,” he told the daily. The official pointed out that
Russian missiles do not pose a threat to anyone. Rather, they are solely for
defensive purposes.
The
deployment of Iskanders in Kaliningrad came in response to the development of
the US missile defense system in Europe – which has long been a stumbling block
in relations between Moscow and Washington.
Back in
November 2011, when the US failed to agree to make the missile defense shield a
joint project with Russia, then-President Dmitry Medvedev announced sweeping plans to address what Moscow considered to be a threat to national security. He
said he would deploy strike systems in the west and south of the country, as
well as station Iskander missiles in the Kaliningrad region in order to counter
the risk posed by the European missile defense shield.
Moscow
has long been calling for legally-binding guarantees that the missile defense
system will not be aimed against Russia, but the US has so far refused to
deliver such a promise. For years, the necessity of building the missile
defense shield in Europe was justified by the perceived threat from countries
like Iran. However, as the controversy over Tehran’s nuclear program seems to
be nearing an end, the US is not altering its intentions.
“We
realize clearly that the anti-missile defense system is only called defensive,
while in fact it is a significant part of the strategic offensive potential,”
President Vladimir Putin said in his address to the Federal Assembly last week.
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