Moscow. November 13. INTERFAX - Russia is unlikely to supply Iskander tactical missile systems to Minsk, retired Lieutenant General Yevgeny Buzhinsky, the former head of the international treaty department of the Russian Defense Ministry, told Interfax on Saturday.
"I think it won't work. It is not in our interests to escalate the situation now," Buzhinsky said, answering the question whether Russia will supply Iskander complexes to Belarus.
"You see, if we start deploying now, then what prevents the Americans from deploying their missiles somewhere in Poland or in the Baltic States," Buzhinsky said.
Earlier on Saturday, the President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko said that he would like to receive from Russia several divisions of operational-tactical missile systems "Iskander".
"I need several divisions in the western, southern direction. Let them stand. This is 500 kilometers (range - IF), because our "Polonaise" is up to 300 kilometers. Now I'm slowing down your president, I need these 500-kilometer rocket launchers here," Lukashenko said in an interview with the National Defense magazine.
The Iskander-M OTRK was developed at the Kolomna Design Bureau of Mechanical Engineering (High-Precision Complexes Holding). In the variant for the Russian army, the complex includes two types of missiles: ballistic and cruise.
The flight range of the Iskander-M missiles was officially called - up to 500 km. It was reported that the missiles of the complex can carry a nuclear warhead. The complex is in service with missile brigades of the Russian Ground Forces. Iskander-M replaced the Tochka-U tactical complex.
