Kremlin spokesman vows response to US missiles stationed in Europe

The Kremlin indirectly threatened the West with a fierce response to the deployment of US weapons in Europe, after Berlin and Washington agreed to place long-range US missiles in Germany that would have the range to strike well into Russia.

"Of course" Moscow will respond to this deployment, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in response to a question from a Russian television journalist on Saturday.

"There has always been a paradoxical situation: The US has deployed missiles of various ranges and calibres, and these have traditionally always been aimed at our country."

Russia, on the other hand, has aimed its missiles at targets in Europe.

"Our country is in the crosshairs of US missiles in Europe," Peskov was quoted as saying by the TASS Russian state news agency. "We've been through all this before, it's happened before."

However, Russia has the ability to deter these missiles, he said. "But the potential victims are the capitals of these states," he added threateningly.

The US plans to station weapons systems in Germany again as of 2026, according to an announcement on the sidelines of a NATO summit on Wednesday in Washington.

The missiles would include Tomahawk cruise missiles with a range of up to 2,500 kilometres. They can also technically be equipped with nuclear weapons. SM-6 air defence missiles and newly developed hypersonic weapons would also be stationed in Germany.

Russia and China responded to the announcement with anger.

It will be the first time since the end of the Cold War that such weapons have been deployed on German territory.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said later in the week that the weapons are intended as a deterrent, and that Berlin is always concerned with preventing a war.