don`t believe for a moment that the nukes aren`t already there!

Russia Asserts Right to Deploy Nuclear Arms in Kaliningrad

MOSCOW, Mar 26, 2001 -- (Agence France Presse) Russia is reserving the right to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in its enclave of Kaliningrad between Lithuania and Poland, but insists that it has not already done so, its security council secretary said on Sunday.

Sergei Ivanov, on a visit to the enclave, said that Russia "has not made an agreement with the international community not to deploy tactical weapons in the Kaliningrad region," the Interfax news agency reported.

Ivanov insisted Russia has not already deployed nuclear arms in the region, denying reports in the U.S. press in January quoting U.S. intelligence services saying that arms were spotted in the enclave last June.

He said on Saturday that Russia could bolster its military presence in the region if events so warranted.

His comments echo those of Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov who said earlier there was no reason why Moscow should not deploy nuclear missiles in Kaliningrad.

The issue of the enclave is a sensitive one, with Russia fearing the creeping advances of NATO -- of which Poland is already a member and which Lithuania hopes to join in the near future -- and the European Union.

With the likely accession of Poland and Lithuania to the EU some time after 2003, Kaliningrad will become a pocket of the Russian Federation entirely surrounded by EU member states.

-- Anonymous, March 26, 2001