Russia has capabilities for a stronger response to the proposed deployment of the U.S. missile shield in Europe than the voiced plan to locate Iskander missile systems in the Kaliningrad region, according to Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.
"If the United States wants to deploy the missile shield, having Russia in mind, it would be a mosquito bite on an elephant. What can a dozen missiles do against a giant like Russia? This is just an irritant, nothing more. But if it is the first step, to be followed by others, it will alarm Russia and impel it to react," Lukashenko said in an interview with French journalists, posted on his website.
"What was said about jamming these sites with radio-electronic means, or hitting them with Iskander missiles, was a delicate way of offering a response. Russia has more powerful levers, and more dangerous things to display than the Iskanders. Russia has missiles which need not to be moved to Kaliningrad Region," the Belarusian president said.
"Escalation is something the Americans do not need, to say nothing of the Europeans," he said.
"Why should Poland or the Czech Republic stand viewed through the sights of Russian missiles? I think, a solution will be finally found. The U.S could deploy these systems in some other place instead of destabilizing Europe. Europe does not want this," he said.
On his country's acquiring Iskander systems, Lukashenko said, citing the national rearmament program, adopted a few years ago, that, "Belarus will modernize the armed forces, including the missile component, replacing individual systems with Iskanders."
"We have been planning to buy these modern systems for a long time. But we are short of money, so this is not something to be done in the near future," Lukashenko said.
