NATO: Russia missile build-up in Baltic Sea “a waste of money”

PanARMENIAN.Net - North Atlantic Treaty Organization Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Russian proposals to bolster military forces in its Baltic Sea exclave of Kaliningrad would be “a waste of money.”

The Russian government has warned it may respond to the U.S.-led plan to position parts of a missile shield in eastern Europe by stationing its own strike missiles on its southern and western flanks, including Iskander rockets in Kaliningrad, located between NATO and European Union members Poland and Lithuania, according to Bloomberg.

“These Russian statements are a matter of concern for NATO allies,” Rasmussen told a news conference in the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius, January 19. “It is a complete waste of Russian financial resources because it is a build-up of offensive military capacity directed against an artificial enemy. An enemy that doesn’t exist, because NATO has no intention whatsoever to attack Russia.”

Russia should instead invest its resources in economic development and the creation of jobs, he said.

“I would encourage the Russians to face the new reality,” Rasmussen said. “We’re not enemies, we’re not adversaries, we should be partners. It would be of mutual benefit if we developed peaceful cooperation.”