Russia on Tuesday activated a radar warning system against incoming missiles in its exclave of Kaliningrad on the borders of the EU, in response to Western plans for a US missile shield in Europe. President Dmitry Medvedev announced that the Voronezh-DM station was moving onto immediate combat readiness, days after threatening to deploy missiles in Kaliningrad amid a growing dispute with the West. “I expect that this step will be seen by our partners as the first signal of the readiness of our country to make an adequate response to the threats which the (Western) missile shield poses for our strategic nuclear forces,” Medvedev said. Using rhetoric reminiscent of the Cold War, he added: “If this signal is not heard, we will deploy other methods of protection including the taking of tough countermeasures and the deployment of strike forces.”
