Russia must respond to US actions and it seems necessary for Russia to start production of intermediate nuclear strike systems: Putin
International Desk
"In 2019, we announced that we would not produce these missiles, and we would not deploy them until the United States deployed these systems in some region of the world. Today it is known that the United States not only produces these missile systems but has already brought them to Europe for drills, to Denmark," Putin said at an operational meeting with the permanent members of the Russian Security Council.
Currently, it is unknown whether the US removed the medium- and short-range missiles from the Philippines, where they were previously delivered as part of drills, Putin said.
In an earlier interview with Sputnik, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov spoke on the developments regarding the US deploying ground-based intermediate and shorter-range missiles in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region.
"The implementation of US plans to deploy ground-based INF missiles will not go unanswered by us. Specifically, in this scenario, the abandonment of unilateral self-imposed restrictions introduced by Russia after a US withdrawal from the INF Treaty is inevitable," the minister noted.
The INF treaty, signed between the Soviet Union and the US in 1987, banned the countries from developing and possessing ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges from 500-5,500 kilometers. In 2019, former US President Donald Trump withdrew from the treaty. In early July 2019, President Vladimir Putin signed the law on the suspension of the treaty. The next month, it ceased to exist.
