U.S. officials on Friday confirmed that Russia was moving its missiles with nuclear capabilities into Kaliningrad, according to a report by Reuters.
{mosads}Kaliningrad is a small territory that is geographically isolated from Russia, and is located on the Baltic Sea coastline between Lithuania and Poland.
The move comes after the Obama administration officially accused Russia of attempting to interfere with U.S. elections by hacking the Democratic National Committee and other organizations.
“We believe, based on the scope and sensitivity of these efforts, that only Russia’s senior-most officials could have authorized these activities,” the Department of Homeland Security and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence said in a public statement.
This is not the first time that Russia has moved its nuclear capable missiles into Kaliningrad. A similar move was made in 2014 as part of what was thought to be a military exercise.
“They moved a similar missile system to Kaliningrad in 2014 for a military exercise. It could also be a political gesture – a show of strength – to express displeasure with NATO,” the official told Reuters on condition of anonymity.