Russia takes countermeasures to NATO missile deployment in Europe

Russia is taking measures in response to the deployment of the NATO missile defense system in Europe, the Kremlin said Thursday.

"All our departments responsible for defense and national security are well aware of these plans ... and measures are being taken to ensure the necessary level of Russia's security," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted as saying by RIA Novosti news agency.

The deployment of missile defense systems indeed poses a threat to the security of Russia, Peskov said.

NATO leaders decided to develop its ballistic missile defense capability at the Lisbon Summit in 2010.

Under the scheme, Spain is providing a base for multi-mission ships equipped with U.S. Aegis missile systems; Germany is providing a missile defense command center; Turkey and Britain host early warning radar stations, while Denmark and the Netherlands are upgrading their frigates with new radars.

Earlier in the day, a special ceremony of activation of the Aegis ashore missile defense system was held at a military base in Deveselu, Romania.

On Friday, construction of a second Aegis ashore site began at Redzikovo, Poland, which is scheduled to become operational in 2018.

However, NATO denied its air defense systems presented a threat to Russia.

"Geography and physics both make it impossible for the NATO system to shoot down Russian intercontinental ballistic missiles. The interceptors are too few in number, and either too far south or too close to Russia to do so," NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said in a statement on the alliance's website.

Stoltenberg criticized Moscow for declining all NATO proposals for cooperation on missile defense, including the establishment of joint centers and a regime to ensure missile defense transparency.

This week, Russian President Vladimir Putin has been holding a series of meetings behind closed doors with top brass and defense industry representatives on the development of Russian armaments.

On Tuesday, Lieutenant General Sergei Karakayev, Russian strategic missile forces commander, said Moscow was developing new capacities to counter NATO missile defense systems in Europe.

Viktor Ozerov, head of Russia's Arms Committee at the Russian Federation Council, or the upper parliament house, threatened in response to the NATO air defense system deployment that Moscow would exit the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), which has set a limit to the number of nuclear warheads and ballistic missiles Russia and the United States could keep. Endi