Sunday , November 24 2024

36 year old Russia-US agreement broken, Putin ordered to make more deadly missiles

Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty: Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that Russia should resume production of short- and medium-range missiles that were banned under a now-expired arms treaty with the United States. Putin was referring to missiles with a range of 500 to 5,500 kilometers (300-3,400 miles), which were banned under the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty during the Cold War.

When the US accused Russia of non-compliance with the treaty in 2019 and withdrew, the Kremlin (the office of the Russian president) said it would continue to restrict the production of short- and medium-range missiles that can reach remote areas of Russia if the US refrained from deploying such missiles. In a televised address to his top security official, Putin said the US had begun using missiles capable of hitting Russia in military tests in Denmark.

Putin said Moscow had warned the United States that drone flights over the Black Sea pose a risk of direct military conflict. We have to react to this and decide what to do next in the region. It seems we need to start building these strike systems and then decide according to the situation where to deploy them for our own protection.

The two countries entered into a number of arms treaties during the Cold War to limit nuclear weapons stockpiles and ease tensions in the race to become a superpower, which have been broken or expired in recent years. Russia last year pulled out of the New START treaty, the last agreement between the two sides on nuclear weapons. The US has supplied Ukraine with short-range missiles to support Kiev in its conflict with Russia. Putin has responded by ordering the resumption of production of medium- and short-range missiles.