© Reuters/Maxim ShemetovRussian President Vladimir Putin arrives to deliver his speech during an opening ceremony of the MAKS International Aviation and Space Salon in Zhukovsky, outside Moscow, Russia, August 25, 2015.
"A final decision well be taken after detailed analysis of the potential threat," the agency cited the source as saying.
Comment: Here is what the Iskander ballistic missile is capable of, from The Moscow Times:
Lethal Weapon
The Iskander missile system is one of the most deadly weapons in the Russian arsenal. First fielded in the 1990s, the Iskander is a high-precision tactical ballistic missile system optimized for use at close ranges — under 500 kilometers.
Iskander missiles are capable of being loaded with nuclear warheads, a fact that has riled the West amid the Ukraine crisis, as Russia has openly mulled deploying the weapons to the Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad in response to U.S. missile defense plans in eastern Europe and NATO exercises in the region.
Though it is nuclear capable, the primary use for the Iskander missile is to attack troops and hardware in a frontline fight. The missiles can be guided by troops sighting targets, by satellites, or by unmanned aerial vehicles in the area. Adding to the flexibility of the Iskander system, the missiles can be retargeted in mid-flight, and are extremely maneuverable — enabling them to evade missile defenses.
Iskander missiles have generated interest among Russian export partners, but so far the system has not been exported beyond the Belarussian border as part of a broader defense arrangement between the two economically integrated post-Soviet states.
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