Putin Calls Weapons Remarks ‘Rubbish’

President Vladimir V. Putin dismissed U.S. comments that the Kremlin had deployed tactical nuclear weapons in Kaliningrad, its Baltic enclave between Poland and Lithuania. Responding in German to a question about the reports, Putin was quoted as saying: “That’s rubbish.” The president, fluent in German, was speaking during a private visit to Moscow by German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder to celebrate the Orthodox Christmas. A U.S. official said Wednesday that there had been “some movement of tactical nuclear weapons into Kaliningrad.”