Kaliningrad, a Russian enclave annexed from Germany by the Soviet Union after World War 2, is situated along the Baltic Coast and has been called the “most dangerous place in Europe”.
Russia has said previous deployments of Iskander missiles to Kaliningrad, a slice of Russia wedged between Poland and Lithuania, were temporary and a response to the United States building up its forces in the Baltic region.
However Washington has repeatedly condemned placing such missile systems near the Baltic states and NATO member Poland, blasting it as “destabilising”.
US officials have also expressed concern that the deployments represent a permanent upgrade to Russia’s forces in the area.
Vladimir Shamanov, head of the Russian lower house of parliament’s defence committee, confirmed Russia’s nuclear-capable Iskander missile systems have been sent to Kaliningrad today.
Mr Shamanov said: ”Yes, they have been deployed.
“The deployment of foreign military infrastructure automatically falls onto the priority list for targeting.”
However the Russian official did not say how many were sent or for how long they will be stationed at Kaliningrad.
The Iskander, a mobile ballistic missile system codenamed SS-26 Stone by NATO, replaced the previous Soviet Scud missile.
The system’s two guided missiles have a range of up to 300 miles (500 kilometres) and can carry either conventional or nuclear warheads.
NATO military jets from the US, Germany and Denmark have also been deployed to the Baltic Sea amid rising tensions with Russia, flight monitors confirmed.
A US P-8A Poseidon aircraft dubbed the “submarine killer”, was deployed from RAF Mildenhall, in Suffolk, air traffic data shows.
A German P-3C Orion reportedly departed from Nordholz Naval Airbase, in Lower Saxony and a Danish CL-600 Challenger took off from Aalborg Air Base, in Nørresundby.
The planes are believed to have been sent to a “task area” off the northern coast of Poland near Kaliningrad.
The deployment comes after Dr Paul Miller, who served on the US’s National Security Council (NSC) under former presidents George W Bush and Barack Obama, revealed to the Express.co.uk if another world war was to break out it would be in the Baltic states.
Dr Miller first unveiled his forecast for the Baltics in 2016 and despite recent provocations from North Korea he still believes eastern Europe is more at risk of escalating into World War 3.
The former White House staffer claimed he predicted Russia’s invasion of Crimea in 2014 two years before it happened and he now warns that Vladimir Putin plans to claim more territories in eastern Europe.
The security expert told the Express.co.uk: “I was in Latvia for the Riga Conference in October. From my interaction with European policymakers and scholars, my fears are widely shared – at various levels of intensity.”
Last year Russia’s defence minister revealed that Moscow intended to increase its precision-guided missiles and develop its nuclear power capabilities.
Yury Borisov said the development of nuclear power will remain the focus of the state arms programme “as the main deterring factor of possible aggression against Russia.”
He said: “The character of military action is changing, as could be seen from the Syrian conflict and the local wars of the last decades.
“The role of precision-guided munition is growing. So our second priority is extending the list of such arms.”