Inaugurated Last Week, US Missile Defense Base In Poland Has Long Been Russia's Priority Target

NATO missile defense base in Redzikowo, Poland. (Source: NATO)

Russia says the United States missile defense base in Poland, which was inaugurated last week, has long been the concern and priority targets of those that could be destroyed if needed.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Maria Zakharova said the US new missile defense base in Poland had long been considered a priority target for potential neutralization by the Russian Armed Forces.

The base in question is an air defense base located in the city of Redzikowo, Poland. It's part of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) air shield.

"Given the level of threat posed by the Western military facility, missile defense bases in Poland have long been included among priority targets for potential destruction," Zakharova said, quoted from TASS November 21.

"If necessary, this can be done using various sophisticated weapons," he continued.

The base is part of a NATO missile shield dubbed 'Aegis Ashore' which the alliance says is capable of intercepting short to medium-range ballistic missiles.

The construction of the missile defense facility began in 2016, with a reported cost of US$850 million, according to open sources.

The facility began operating in December 2023 and was then handed over to NATO. After a summit in Washington in July 2024, the alliance announced its full operational readiness for the Aegis Ashore complex in Poland. The base was officially operational on November 13.

The Aegis Ashore facility in Redzikow is part of the EPAA (European Phased Adaptive Approach) program for the gradual deployment of missile defense systems in Europe.

The framework also includes ships equipped with Aegis radar based in Rota, Spain, AN/TPY-2 radar station in Turkey (standby since 2011), and other Aegis Ashore facilities at the Deveslu base in Romania.

Zakharova said the US-NATO development project, which lasted for nearly a decade by completely ignoring Russia's security concerns, was consistently the focus of Russia's attention.

He stressed that Russia had spent years preparing countermeasures in response.

Zakharova described the establishment of the base as a blatant provocative move, calling it part of a "very unstable series of actions by America and their North Atlantic allies in strategic areas."

"This move is in line with the old and destructive practices to advance NATO military infrastructure closer to Russia's borders," he explained.

"Such actions undermine strategic stability. Coupled with other dangerous military-political and military-technical actions aimed at projecting US powers thousands of kilometers from its own territory to put pressure on Russia and other nuclear powers, this is definitely increasing strategic risks and, as a result, increasing the overall level of nuclear danger," Zakharova added.