Retired colonel, military expert Viktor Litovkin on February 10 commented on the statement by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg that the alliance is studying the possibility of long-term deployment of combat groups in the Black Sea.
According to Litovkin, this will threaten the security of Russia, since planes from Romania can easily reach Crimea.
“On the territory of Romania there is an American anti-missile system Aegis Ashore in the launch cups of which MK-41 can mark not only SM-3 missiles, but also Tomahawks, long-range cruise missiles prohibited by the disappeared agreement on the elimination of intermediate and shorter range missiles,” said the expert in an interview with Izvestia.
However, according to him, the Russian side has something to oppose to NATO weapons. Litovkin stressed that “we have the entire Crimea armed as a good aircraft carrier.”
“In Crimea, we have anti-missile defense systems, air defense systems, we have aviation in Crimea, we have ships with cruise missiles on board in Crimea. Three destroyers, six submarines “Varshavyanka” also modernized with cruise missiles on board. So we have Bal and Bastion anti-ship defense systems in Crimea,” the expert said.
According to Litovkin, NATO “continues to threaten us with all these battle groups”, but at the same time declaring that “they are a defensive alliance.”
“In this way they are trying to drag us into an arms race, in this way they want to show the whole world that Russia is “aggressive”, and they are forced “unfortunate” to defend their NATO allies, because not today tomorrow Russia will attack Ukraine, then it will attack also on Romania, on Bulgaria there, on Turkey, on anyone Russia will attack, ”he said.
The expert noted that “Russia has not attacked anyone over the past 30 years, and NATO has attacked not only its neighbors, but also countries that are far from NATO.”
Earlier in the day, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance has battle groups in the Baltic states and Poland and is considering deploying similar groups in the Black Sea region of Romania.
On February 7, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that Britain and the United States had invented a “Russian threat” for a “heroic” fight against it. Thus, the West is trying to divert attention from its own political crises and “drain billions into armaments,” the diplomat said.
The United States and a number of European countries have recently expressed concern over the alleged increase in Russia’s “aggressive actions” against Ukraine. Moscow has repeatedly denied such accusations, saying that it does not threaten anyone, and such statements are used as an excuse to place as much NATO military equipment as possible near the borders of the Russian Federation.
Source: IZ
Jane Stock is a technology author, who has written for 24 Hours World. She writes about the latest in technology news and trends, and is always on the lookout for new and innovative ways to improve his audience’s experience.
