US missile system in Romania poses threat to Russia: Kremlin
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A view shows the command center for the newly opened ballistic missile defense site at Deveselu air base, Romania, May 12, 2016.
A senior Russian official has said the activation of a US missile system in Romania would constitute a threat to Russia's national security.
"Without doubt, the deployment of the PRO system really is a threat to the security of the Russian Federation," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday of the US missile system in Deveselu in southern Romania:
He added: "Measures are being taken to ensure the necessary level of security for Russia. The president himself (Vladimir Putin), let me remind you, has repeatedly asked who the system will work against?"
The remarks came as the United States switched on an $800 million missile system in Romania earlier in the day.
The US commander in Europe and Africa, Mark Ferguson, at an inauguration ceremony alongside NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg, said that the missile system will help defend NATO members against the threat of short and medium-range ballistic missiles.
Russia has strongly criticized the US installation of a missile system in Romania, describing the decision as a mistake. The Russian Foreign Ministry says the measure flouts the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, signed between Moscow and Washington in 1987.
Mikhail Ulyanov, the director of the Russian foreign Ministry's department for non-proliferation and arms control, said on Wednesday that the deployment of US missile systems at military bases in Romania and Poland would undermine strategic stability in Europe.
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