KALININGRAD, Russia, Dec. 10 (UPI) -- Russia says it is withdrawing hundreds of tanks from its enclave of Kaliningrad, demonstrating, it says, that it has no plans to attack NATO countries.
General of the Army Nikolai Makarov told a meeting of foreign military attaches in Moscow Wednesday that his country is taking nearly 900 tanks out of Kaliningrad, a strategic region that borders NATO members Poland and Lithuania, RIA Novosti reported.
"We had 880 tanks in the Kaliningrad region, and we are pulling virtually all of them out," Makarov said, adding that "this unilateral move clearly demonstrates that Russia has no plans to attack other countries and is not pursuing an expansionist policy," the Russian news agency said.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev last month threatened to deploy Iskander short-range missiles in the Kaliningrad exclave as a response to U.S. moves to establish a missile defense shield system in Central Europe, and Makarov reiterated that Russia would take "adequate measures" to protect its interests if Washington does not abandon its missile shield plans.
