Russia’s new anti-missile radar station in the Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad will become fully operational by the middle of 2014, Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov told the Rossiiskaya Gazeta daily.

“According to our estimates, it will take about one and a half years to put the facility into full operation,” Serdyukov said.

The facility was opened in late November to counter the perceived threat from a joint U.S.-NATO missile defense system in Europe. President Dmitry Medvedev attended the station's inauguration ceremony during his visit to the city.

When the radar enters full operation, it will be able to monitor simultaneously 500 targets at a distance of up to 6,000 kilometers, Serdyukov said.

Russia’s Defense Ministry plans to deploy S-400 surface-to-air missiles to beef up the facility’s security, Serdyukov said.

The full text of the interview will be published in Rossiiskaya Gazeta on Friday.