Russia: The Russian military said in a statement on Thursday that the move comes amid rising tensions with the West over Moscow's actions in Ukraine. The warplanes are equipped with state-of-the-art hypersonic missiles.
According to the Russian Defense Ministry three MiG-31 fighters equipped with Kinzal hypersonic missiles have arrived at Chkalovsk airbase in the Baltic Sea exclave of Kaliningrad as part of "additional measures of strategic deterrence".
The ministry announced that warplanes would be kept on constant alert.
Fighters were seen arriving at the base in a video released by the Defense Ministry without the missiles, which were apparently delivered separately.
On Thursday, two Russian MiG-31 planes are suspected of violating Finnish airspace in the Gulf of Finland from the southern city of Porvu, west of Helsinki, according to the Finnish Defense Ministry. The Nordic nation's border guard launched a preliminary investigation into the incident.
As the sixth month of Russia's campaign in Ukraine draws to a close, the deployment of the Kinjal missiles to Kaliningrad appears to demonstrate the Russian military's ability to pose a threat to NATO assets. Poland and Lithuania, two NATO members, border the region.
The delivery of Western weapons to Ukraine has drawn strong criticism from Moscow, which has accused the US and its allies of igniting the conflict.
According to the Russian military, the Kinjal can fly up to 2,000 kilometers (or 1,250 miles) and travels at 10 times the speed of sound, making it difficult to intercept. The weapon has been used by Russia to strike several targets in Ukraine.
Because of its geographical location, Kaliningrad has played a leading role in Moscow's efforts in what has been described as hostile to NATO policies. There, the Kremlin has steadily increased the size of its military forces and supplied them with state-of-the-art equipment such as precision-guided Iskander missiles and a variety of air defense systems.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ivan Nechayev said on Thursday that "the events in Ukraine demonstrated that conflict with the collective West is a real possibility," emphasizing that "a direct confrontation with the US and NATO is not in our interest." Is."
"As a nuclear power, Russia will continue to act with maximum responsibility," Nechayev said during a briefing. "Russian military doctrine envisages a nuclear reaction only in retaliation for an attack involving weapons of mass destruction or in a situation where the existence of the state is threatened."
He added that the conventional weapons available to the Russian military "allowed to fully implement the goals set by the Russian President."
Nechayev said that we believe that the US and NATO are aware of the dangers that could result from their aggressive anti-Russian rhetoric, which emphasizes the potential use of nuclear weapons.
According to him, Russia is of the view that "a nuclear war cannot be won and should never be fought," which was shared by five other nuclear-armed countries earlier this year.
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