VILNIUS: US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis on Tuesday criticised what he called a destabilising Russian military build-up near Baltic states and officials suggested the United States could deploy Patriot missiles in the region for Nato exercises in the summer.
US allies are jittery ahead of war games by Russia and Belarus in September that could involve up to 100,000 troops and include nuclear weapons training — the biggest such exercise since 2013.
The drills could see Russian troops on the border with Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. Russia has also deployed Iskander missiles in Kaliningrad, its enclave on the Baltic Sea. It said the deployment was part of routine drills, but US officials worry that it may represent a permanent upgrade to Kaliningrad’s missile capability.
Asked during a trip to Lithuania about the Russian missile deployment, Mattis told a news conference: “Any kind of buildup like that is simply destabilising.”
The United States is ruling out any direct response to the Russian drills or the potential missile deployment.
But at the same time, US officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, raised the possibility that a Patriot missile battery could be deployed briefly to the Baltic region during upcoming Nato exercises in July that focus on air defence, known as Tobruk Legacy.
One of the officials said Patriots had not been previously deployed to the Baltics, although they had been in Poland. The officials stressed the Patriots, if deployed, would be withdrawn when the drills were concluded. That would likely happen before the Russian drills began, they said.
Mattis declined to comment directly on the possible Patriot deployment when asked by reporters after talks in Vilnius.
— Reuters
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