A 20-meter container weighing about 10 tons and having a diameter of more than 2 meters, arrived in the Kostroma missile division from the Sverdlovsk region, where the missile system was deployed.

Yury Oshkin, Deputy Commander of the Kostroma missile unit, said the plastic container contained a missile in active service.

US intelligence services expressed concern why the container arrived at an operating military base, and sent a request to the Russian authorities. The Russian military said it was a museum exhibit, a gift from the Russian Defense Ministry, and it would not be launched. Instead, it will be put up as a monument to the missile troops in one of the city’s parks.

However, the Americans were not reassured. They gave Kostroma’s military command 10 days to remove the “monument” from the military base and transfer it to the local administration. The monument will be put to mark the 60th anniversary of the victory in the Second World War.