Russia To Locate Missiles In Baltic Coast In Response to US Missile Defense Plans

Let's see. We locate a "Missile Shield" against Iran somewhere that leaves much of NATO naked, but is along the Russian border, and we are surprised when they get huffy?

This is Condi Rice trying to recreate the "Evil Empire" because her profession has vanished with its fall.

Someone should tell her that Diplomat means more than, "An extremely unwise thing to call Guido "Knuckles" Lomat".

FWIW, missiles fired from Kaliningrad could take a depressed trajectory, and strike NATO targets with little or no warning, and said "missile shield", which is exclusively exo-atmospheric, won't be able to touch it.

Russia threatens European rocket deployment
MOSCOW (AFP): Russia issued a veiled threat on Wednesday to deploy rockets in its Kaliningrad region bordering the European Union if the United States built a missile defence shield in central Europe.

Moscow and Washington are locked in a standoff over the US plans for a radar station in the Czech Republic and interceptor rockets in Poland.

Russia says the plans threaten its security.

The threat to put missiles in Kaliningrad was made by the influential First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov only two days after President Vladimir Putin again raised the missile shield dispute with US President George W. Bush.

Putin has suggested to Bush that the United States use a Russian-controlled radar in ex-Soviet Azerbaijan, near the Iranian border, instead of having a shield in central Europe.

Putin has also offered the use of another radar under construction at Armavir in southern Russia.

"If our offers are accepted, Russia will not consider it necessary to deploy new rocket units in the European part of the country, including Kaliningrad, to counter the threat" from the United States, Ivanov was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies.

Ivanov, who was on a visit to Uzbekistan, said Russia had "found an asymmetrical and effective response" to the US project for a European shield.

"We know what we're doing.... If our proposals are not accepted, we will take adequate measures," Ivanov said.

Washington insists that its proposed missile shield is intended to guard against possible attack from "rogue states" such as Iran. Moscow believes the systems are directed against Russia.

...

They believe that it is targeted against Russia because it is targeted against Russia.