Russian Defense Minister: Russia is capable of neutralizing NATO's Tomahawk missiles
The Russian air defense forces are capable of neutralizing Tomahawk cruise missiles that can be deployed along Russia’s western borders, stated the Russian Defense Minister, Sergey Shoygu.
“The decision to develop the capability of neutralizing such threats, taken by you, Vladimir Vladimirovich [Putin], has been fulfilled,” said Shoygu on Thursday while speaking at the Russian Ministry of Defense's board meeting attended by Vladimir Putin, the Interfax news agency reported.
According to Shoygu, NATO, after few minor upgrades to MK-41 launch systems, can adapt them for use with Tomahawk cruise missiles that have a range of 2400 km.
He noted that in that case the time the missiles would be able to reach Russian borders will be less than ten minutes. “We can potentially have between 150 to 300 such missiles along our border,” he stated.
In July 2016, the Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that NATO is stepping up it's aggressive rhetoric and requested the Russian government to take appropriate security measures.