Accessibility links

Breaking News

Russia Displays Air Defense Systems Amid Ukraine Tensions


A man walks with his bicycle next to air defense system displays in front of the Russian Army Theater in Moscow, Dec. 8, 2014.
A man walks with his bicycle next to air defense system displays in front of the Russian Army Theater in Moscow, Dec. 8, 2014.

Russia displayed its mobile air defense missile systems in central Moscow on Monday, underlining its military might amid tensions with the West over Ukraine.

President Vladimir Putin said last week that Russia would have enough resources and resolve to protect it from what he described as enemies seeking to dismember the country.

Mounted on dark green military trucks, the S-400 'Triumph' and Pantsir-S1 surface-to-air missile systems, as well as the Kasta radar station, appeared outside the capital's huge Russian Army Theater.

Russia's Defense Ministry said the equipment was put on display to mark the 100th anniversary of the creation of Russia's air defense forces.

The West has expressed growing concern over what it says is Russia flexing its military muscle, including by intensifying air activity around Europe and beefing up its military forces on the Crimean peninsula, which Moscow annexed from Kyiv in March.

The Kyiv government, NATO, Washington and its allies have accused Russia of sending in troops and arms to back separatist rebels in Ukraine's east -- setting up the worst confrontation between Moscow and the West since the Cold War.

Russia has dismissed the accusations.

  • 16x9 Image

    Reuters

    Reuters is a news agency founded in 1851 and owned by the Thomson Reuters Corporation based in Toronto, Canada. One of the world's largest wire services, it provides financial news as well as international coverage in over 16 languages to more than 1000 newspapers and 750 broadcasters around the globe.

XS
SM
MD
LG