TEHRAN – Russia will not report to NATO about the deployment of itsIskander ballistic missile systems in its westernmost exclave region ofKaliningrad as there is no reason for that, Vladimir Shamanov, the head ofthe Russian lower house’s defense committee, said on Thursday.link>link>link>link>

“Why? This is our legitimate territory, we can do what we want,” Shamanovsaid, when asked whether Russia would report to the alliance about thedeployment of Iskanders, Sputnik reported.

This comes as on Wednesday NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg saidthat the alliance urged Russia to be transparent concerning the deploymentof Iskander missile systems in Kaliningrad, located on the Baltic Sea.

Shamanov confirmed on February 5 that Russia had deployed the Iskanderballistic missile systems in the Kaliningrad Region. The information wasinitially announced by Raimundas Karoblis, the defense minister ofneighboring Lithuania, in an interview with the BNS news agency publishedthe same day. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, commenting on theissue, that Moscow was not threatening anyone, but has the sovereign rightto place weapons anywhere on its territory.

The possibility of deploying Iskander systems in the Kaliningrad Region inresponse to the deployment of NATO missile systems in Eastern Europe wasinitially voiced in 2008 by then Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, whocurrently holds the position of prime minister.

Over the past few years, the United States and NATO have been increasingtheir military build-up in Eastern Europe and the Baltic countries, citingthe need for protection from alleged Russian aggression.