Russia could place powerful new radar systems on the Baltic and the Black Sea coasts in response to an increased NATO presence, the Interfax news agency reported Tuesday.
The Podsolnukh system has an off-shore range of 200 miles and is designed for tracking ship and aircraft movements as well as guiding missiles.
The first radar in the Baltic could come into service next year, Interfax reported, quoting an unnamed source.
An equivalent system could also be installed in Crimea, and would be “able to see any battleship moving through the Bosphorous,” the source said.
There are currently three Podsolnukh systems in Russia, working on the coasts of the Sea of Japan, the Sea of Okhotsk and the Caspian Sea.
The Defence Ministry plans to purchase a further three stations in 2017 for Navy bases in the Arctic, and one Russia's southern and western coasts, said Sergei Boev, General Director of RTI Systems who manufacture the radar.
Russia has warned the West that it will be forced to respond to NATO expansion in the Baltic. “
If an organization that presents itself as your opponent moves its infrastructure to your borders, then you must react,” said Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
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