Russia announces transfer of hypersonic missiles to Kaliningrad
Moscow has announced the transfer of three MiG-31 military aircraft armed with hypersonic missiles to the Russian Baltic Sea enclave of Kaliningrad, in a show of force in the Russian region bordering the European Union.
The Moscow Defense Ministry stated that aircraft carrying Kinzhal air-to-surface missiles were stationed at the Chkalovsk Air Base as an "additional measure of strategic deterrence".
Kaliningrad is located between Poland and Lithuania, members of the European Union (more than 1,000 km from Moscow).
According to Russia, Kinzhal cruise missiles fly at 10 times the speed of sound, while still being steerable and flying at a range of 2,000 km.
It can be armed conventionally or with a nuclear warhead.
The missile is one of the advanced weapons systems praised by President Vladimir Putin.
Russia said in March that it had fired a Kinzhal missile at a military target in western Ukraine.
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