Russia plays by its own rules. This has never been more apparent than the present, with Vladimir Putin and company doing whatever they want in spite of the potential blow-back from other countries around the globe.

It has now been reported that Russia is likely to deploy missiles with nuclear capabilities along the NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) border by 2019. The missile — formally known as SS-26 Stone, but nicknamed “Iskander” — has a range of roughly 300 miles. By all accounts, it’s an extremely deadly piece of hardware.

Russia burns bridges faster than most countries could ever dream, and this latest stunt just serves as yet another nail in the coffin of their relationship with the Western World.

Yahoo! News reports, “NATO is holding a summit in Warsaw next month to decide how best to deter Russia after Moscow’s lightning annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea in 2014. The United States, Britain and Germany have said they will command new battalions in Poland and the Baltics to send Moscow a message.”

The director of the Center for Strategic Trend Studies in Moscow, Ivan Konovalov, believes that the key to prevent these missiles from being launched is to dissolve tensions between the East and the West. He has claimed that “the Iskanders are our ace card in the standoff over missile defense and NATO’s activity around our borders. We need to use it cleverly. There’s a big game going on and we don’t want to throw it away at the start. We’ll play it when Russia needs it most politically.”

You may disagree with Russia’s policies — and justifiably so — but their transparency regarding issues like this one have potential to resolve the situation peacefully, instead of kick-starting a full-blown war. Hopefully cooler heads prevail and Russia begins to understand where NATO is coming from.

Sources:

Yahoo! News

The Daily Caller