US voices concerns over Russia's deployment of tactical missiles

The United States has voiced its concerns to Russia over missile deployment near its western region and urged Russia not to take destabilizing steps, a State Department spokesperson said Monday. "We've shared with Russia the concerns the countries in the neighborhood have ... regarding Russia's deployment of the Iskander missiles in Kaliningrad. We've urged Moscow to take no steps to destabilize the region," State Department spokesperson Marie Harf said at a press conference. Russia confirmed Monday that it has deployed its tactical Iskander-M missiles along the borders with NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) countries, but insisted that the deployment did not violate international treaties. "The deployment of Iskander missile battalions on the territory of the Western Military District does not violate any respective international agreements," the RIA Novosti news agency quoted Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov as saying. In 2011, the then Russian president Dmitry Medvedev threatened that Russia would station Iskander tactic missiles in Kaliningrad and southern Krasnodar region, should the United States implement its phased approach to the anti-missile defense program, which Moscow has repeatedly warned may cause "ice-age" in relations with the United States.