Patriot missile battery will contain four to eight missiles and will be operated by 100 American soldiers redeployed from a base in Germany

 

January 21, 2010 (Hamsayeh.Net) - Russia expressed outmost dissatisfaction with US’ change of plans over missile deployment in Poland. This time, the US not only plans to deploy a missile shield system in Poland but also to station it very close to the Russian border, as announced by Bogdan Klick the Polish Defense Minister in an interview with local daily Gazeta Wyborcza.

 

The Polish minister said on Wednesday that American defense system would be based in Morag, a town about 100 km from the Russian border at Kaliningrad. The base is in very good condition and could house advance technological equipment including Patriot missiles, which will be supplied by the US to protect the eastern borders from incoming missiles, explained the ministry. ‘Logistic and technical reasons were crucial,’ Janusz Sejmej from the Polish Defense Ministry told private radio station RMF FM.

 

The planned Patriot missile battery will contain four to eight missiles and will be operated by 100 American soldiers redeployed from a base in Germany, the report said.

 

Russia reacted decisively when the news of US missile defense began to emerge. Pavel Felgegauer, a top Russian military analyst said such a move near the Russian border is a clear sign of unfriendly gesture and will certainly come under sharp criticism from Moscow.  ‘The appearance of American soldiers in Russia’s vicinity will be a nail in a coffin in US-Russia relations,’ Felgengauer explained.

 

Today, a Russian senior navy official told the state news agency, RIA NOVOSTI, that Russia would boost Baltic fleet in direct response to US missile defense plans in Poland. ‘The surface, underwater and aviation elements of the Baltic Fleet will be strengthened,’ RIA quoted the unidentified Russian navy official as saying.

 

Initially Washington claimed, the plan to deploy missile system in Poland was to serve as a first shield of defense against incoming missile from countries like Iran. However, Russian military analysts quickly noticed that such a system couldn’t possibly serve Washington's desired aims simply because countries like Iran do not have extensive missile capabilities to actually threaten Europe.