RUSSIA COMPLETES REARMING CRIMEA

   Russia has completed rearming air defense forces in Crimea with its advanced S-400 Triumf surface-to-air missile systems, Russian officials confirmed at an annual Defense Ministry year end review meeting on Tuesday.
   “This year, we have completed rearming air defense units stationed in Crimea with the S-400 Triumph systems. Today they are on combat duty, reliably protecting the airspace over the entire Crimean Peninsula,” the Commander of the Southern Military District, Colonel-General Alexander Dvornikov said, according to TASS. Russian commanders have touted the S-400 missiles' capabilities of engaging targets at a distance of 400km and at an altitude of up to 30km (though western analysts say the numbers are lower), and have lately widely publicized the new Crimean missile deployments following the Nov. 25 Kerch Strait incident. 

  Russia's military has called it a "combat" deployment toward "neutralizing possible threats", according to a statement by Commander Dvornikov.