"But we are not very much concerned about the fact that there will be some kind of missiles deployed. Because today it's really of no importance where a particular missile is deployed, whether it is near Kaliningrad or near Moscow, anyway this missile can be launched and it can reach the territory of Poland and NATO," Koziej told journalists on Wednesday.
"Even if Iskander missiles were not deployed in Kaliningrad but they were deployed somewhere near Moscow, they could be transported here within a short period of time. So from the operational technical point, there is not a real threat that they keep storing their missiles here. But from the political, from the psychological point of view, this is very much of a concern," the Polish official said.
In his words, there are two dimensions of this problem: one is realistic and the other is virtual.
"In this realistic dimension, we are indeed concerned about the militarization of Kaliningrad. But in our assessment, it is more of a problem for Russia than a real need for concern for NATO states. If Russia wants to spend its money on preparing to protect against something what is not a problem for it, then it's its own issue," Koziej said.
He underlined that Russia's talks about the deployment of new missiles is undermining cooperation with NATO and that is against the interests of Lithuania and Poland.
"In the sphere of psychology, in the sphere of information, in the sphere of conducting information war by Russia with the West, this is concerning to us. Any plans that we hear about the development of missile weapons or any plans to develop such missile weapons. Because it spoils the atmosphere of any kind of cooperation between NATO and Russia. And nobody should care more that Poland and Lithuania about the best cooperation as possible between NATO and Russia," Koziej said.
"Because we know exactly from the history what was the case when Poland or Lithuania had problems and disputes with Russia. It was our soil that was actually destroyed from the times of Napoleon then during the times of the First World War and the Second World War. If Russia quarrels with the West, it is not good for us," the head of Poland's National Security Bureau said.
Russia has warned it would deploy the most advanced surface-to-surface and surface-too-air missiles, like S-400 and Iskander, if NATO failed to take into account Russia's position regarding the missile defense system.
