Kremlin Warns European Capitals Could Become Targets if US Missiles Deployed

Dmitry Peskov, spokesperson for Russian President Vladimir Putin, has warned that European capitals could become “potential targets” if their countries agree to host US long-range missiles.

In a recent interview with Russian state TV reporter Pavel Zarubin, Peskov asserted that Russia has “enough potential” to counter these missiles. However, he emphasized that “the potential victims are the capitals of these states.”

Drawing parallels to the Cold War era, Peskov recalled that US missiles stationed in Europe targeted Russia, while Russian missiles were aimed at Europe, making the continent’s countries the primary potential victims in any conflict.

“The United States deployed such missiles, different types of missiles of different ranges, but always aimed at our country,” Peskov said on Saturday. “Our country, accordingly, has identified these European locations as targets for our missiles.”

Addressing a comment about the previous confrontation ending with the Soviet Union’s collapse, Peskov remarked, “Europe is now bursting at the seams.”

“This is not the best time for Europe,” he added. “Therefore, the repetition of history in different configurations is inevitable; that’s what I’ll tell them.”

Peskov’s remarks come in the wake of the US plan to station long-range fires capabilities of the Multi-Domain Task Force in Germany by 2026, aimed at demonstrating the United States’ commitment to NATO and its contributions to European integrated deterrence. According to a statement issued by the White House on Wednesday, these units will include SM-6, Tomahawk, and developmental hypersonic weapons, which have significantly longer ranges than current land-based fires in Europe.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz welcomed the decision to station non-nuclear Tomahawk cruise missiles, SM-6, and hypersonic missiles in Germany, stating it “fitted exactly” into his government’s security strategy. Scholz noted that the decision had been long anticipated and would come as “no surprise” to those knowledgeable about security and peace policies.

In response, Russian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Ryabkov issued a stern warning to Berlin, declaring that Moscow would respond militarily to the deployment. He accused NATO of being “fully involved in the conflict” and described the move as “just another link in the chain of a course of escalation.”

Both Russian and US officials have accused each other of provoking the current escalation. Some experts believe that the deployment of missiles in Europe, following the collapse of the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty, could ignite a new arms race.

With the INF Treaty no longer in effect, the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) remains the last major arms control agreement between the US and Russia. New START, which limits each nation to 1,550 deployed nuclear warheads and 700 deployed missiles and bombers, is set to expire in 2026.

In 2019, the Trump administration suspended US obligations under the INF Treaty, citing Russian violations. Russia, on the other hand, has asserted that any attack on its territory could trigger a nuclear response. At the onset of what he termed a “special military operation” in Ukraine, President Putin hinted at the potential use of nuclear weapons, warning that Western intervention would lead to “unprecedented consequences.”

Following the announcement of the “military operation” in Ukraine, Putin placed the country’s nuclear deterrence forces on high alert, sparking global concerns about a potential nuclear war. The United States condemned the move, describing Putin’s order as “totally unacceptable.”

Russia currently holds the largest stockpile of nuclear weapons in the world, estimated at 6,257 warheads. Moscow maintains the right to use nuclear weapons in response to a nuclear attack, the use of weapons of mass destruction against Russia or its allies, or if the existence of the Russian state is threatened.