The US air defense facility near Russia’s border is an attempt to deter Moscow’s military potential, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said
FILE PHOTO. © Getty Images / chameleonseye The opening of a US missile base in Poland is an attempt to contain Russia’s military potential, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has stated. Washington is set to officially open a new NATO air defense base in northern Poland on Wednesday, as the US seeks to increase its permanent military presence in Europe. The missile defense complex in the town of Redzikowo near the Baltic coast, which has been under construction since the 2000s, will be the second US base of its kind in Eastern Europe; the first is located in southern Romania. Commenting on the development, Peskov described the new base as the “advancement of American military infrastructure on European territory” towards Russia’s borders. “This is nothing more than an attempt to contain our military potential,” the presidential spokesperson told reporters on Wednesday. “Of course, this will lead to the adoption of appropriate measures to ensure parity.” Peskov noted that Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned for nearly two decades that NATO’s eastward expansion undermines Russian national security. He recalled that Putin had addressed the issue while meeting with then-US President George W. Bush in the 2000s, and that Moscow had insisted “the words of the Americans that all these plans are aimed against the Iranian threat are in fact a lie.”
Dubbed ‘Aegis Ashore’, the US base at Redzikowo is located around 150km (93 miles) from Kaliningrad Region, a Russian exclave on the Baltic Sea between Poland and Lithuania. The base is part of a broader NATO missile shield which also comprises a second Aegis Ashore site in Romania, a radar facility in Türkiye, a command center in Germany and US Navy destroyers based in the Spanish port of Rota. According to NATO, the defense system is capable of intercepting short- to intermediate-range ballistic missiles. Poland, which is currently serving as the logistics hub for the bloc for the funneling of weapons, ammunition, and equipment to Ukraine, has sought a permanent US base for years. “It took some time, but this project is proof of the geostrategic consistency of the United States,” Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said in a video posted to X on Tuesday. “The Polish-American alliance is strong, regardless of who governs in Warsaw and Washington.” Moscow has repeatedly warned that it sees the US-led military bloc’s expansion toward Russia’s borders as an existential threat. Russia has also consistently denied any intention of attacking NATO, with President Putin recently describing warnings about Russian aggression toward Western Europe as “nonsense” aimed at alarming citizens and raising defense budgets in the West.
