RUSSIA has deployed an arsenal of nuclear-capable missiles close to the border of Ukraine - stoking further tensions between the two Crimean adversaries following an incident on the Sea of Azov in November.
Satellite imagery released by ImageSat International show what appears to be short range and nuclear-capable Iskander ballistic missiles stationed in Krasnodar, around 270 miles south east of the Ukrainian border.
The new images show a missile compound and several bunkers as well as a second compound nearby An Iskander missile launcher is stationed next to a transloader vehicle, which is used to load fresh ammunition into the launcher. Another transloader could be seen leaving a bunker close by, the door of which appears to be left open
The imaging company claimed the set up could be construed as a “signal from Russia to the US”, Fox News reports.
Another similar drill was held at an Iskander site near the Siberian city of Ulan-Ude, according to further imagery.
Iskander missiles have a range of up to 310 miles, with the Donbass region of east Ukraine within distance of the missile.
Pro-Russian militants have been fighting government forces near the Russian border since 2014 in an effort to establish an independent state, while Russian forces have given military support to fighters.
It follows news in January this year that Washington ordered Moscow to scrap a controversial missile project if it wants to salvage the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, which the two countries signed in 1987.
The treaty banned ground-to-air missile launchers from firing nuclear or conventional missiles with a range between 310 and 3,417 miles.
But rumours the Iskander can fire further than 310 miles have stoked tensions, with many believing the INF treaty between US and Russia is at risk.
Last week, a senior Russian official gave a warning to Kiev, suggesting its cooperation with western powers put its sovereignty at risk.
Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev told Russian newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta: “The Kiev authorities are doing everything to split Ukraine, implementing the West's scenario for separating Ukraine from Russia, while ignoring the interests of their own people.
“In the end, the country was effectively split. The continuation of such a policy by the Kiev authorities may contribute to Ukraine's loss of statehood.”
A war between the two nations is ongoing, even though a cease fire between the two nations was agreed upon in 2015.
In November last year, tensions were further fulled when Russian naval forces opened fire on and detained three Ukrainian vessels on the Black Sea.
Russian forces stopped three Ukranian ships from passing through the Sea of Azov – a shared territory that Moscow has continually tried to claim after seizing the peninsula in 2014.
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