What’s Behind US Deploying Patriot Missiles to Baltics for the First Time
SputnikNews.com
11.07.2017
The United States has deployed its Patriot missile defense system to Lithuania for the first time for use in the upcoming NATO drills to be held there. According to military expert Boris Rozhin, the deployment is an unfriendly signal from the alliance.
“On July 10 the United States of America is for the first [time] deploying Patriot long-range missile system in Lithuania. The deployment demonstrates the steadfast US commitment to the security of Lithuania and its high readiness to send strategic capabilities to the region,” the press office of the Lithuanian Defense Ministry said in a statement.
According to the ministry, the Patriot will be used along with Lithuanian and other NATO members’ air defense systems during Tobruq Legacy 2017 drills.
The exercise will be held on July 11-22 and will involve nearly 500 personnel and 30 air defense systems from the US, the United Kingdom, Latvia and Poland.
The deployment of Patriot missile systems to Lithuania for drills is an unfriendly signal from NATO to Russia, according to Boris Rozhin, an expert at the Center for Military and Political Journalism.
“Patriot systems were deployed in Eastern Europe long ago. Poland, the Czech Republic and Romania have used them in drills and in service. But their deployment to the Baltics is an unfriendly gesture NATO is making with these drills. They want to play the card of the mythical Russian intention to attack the Baltic nations,” Rozhin said in an interview with Radio Sputnik.
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