"It is obvious that military preparations near the borders, be it the Russian or some other’s border, cannot be ignored by our country, like by any other country. We proceed from the fact that retaliatory measures will be taken to ensure our security," the diplomat stressed.

MOSCOW, May 23. /TASS/. Russia reserves the right to take retaliatory measures over the deployment of a US radar in Norway, Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday.

"The talk is about the US Globus II radar. The radar station is based just 50 km from the border with Russia and is serviced by the military intelligence of Norway," Zakharova said.

"It is no secret for anyone that the data received is transferred directly to the United States. In April 2016, the press release of the Norwegian armed forces said that the radar station would be upgraded in 2017-2020 to comprise a new radar [Globus III whose construction is currently underway]," the Russian diplomat said.

Russia regularly raised this issue before the Norwegian side, Zakharova pointed out.

"Norwegian officials get away from explaining for what purposes the upgraded station will be used. They confine themselves to the statements that the radar system ‘generally is not aimed against Russia," although it is located 50 km from Russia, the diplomat said.

"There are all grounds to believe that the radar will be tracking precisely the territory of the Russian Federation and will become a part of the US missile shield," the spokeswoman said.

"It is obvious that the deployment of the US radar in that area is not a purely Norwegian issue. This relates to the general context of keeping stability and predictability in the North," the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman stressed.