Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has warned that his country will take serious measures in response to the US government’s planned deployment of ground-based missile systems previously banned under the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty.
He argues that due to Washington’s actions, Moscow will have to decide on the future of the moratorium on the deployment of INF.
According to Lavrov, Russia’s commitment to this moratorium is “strictly linked to the potential appearance of American-made ground-based INF missiles in the relevant regions.”
According to Lavrov, the issue of the deployment of such missiles by “hostile countries” is “very sensitive from the point of view of national security.”
“In the case of the United States, this aspect takes on special significance given its direct relationship with other factors influencing strategic stability. It is obvious that Washington’s creation of additional missile risks will require us to take serious retaliatory measures,” Lavrov said in an interview with RIA Novosti.
He noted that in the absence of “extraordinary steps” on the part of the United States to increase “power pressure by other means,” Russia will not be the first to deploy previously prohibited weapons.
“Judging by the Pentagon’s preparations, it won’t be long before the Americans take practical action to deploy ground-based INF missiles in various regions of the world. So the moment when we will have to make the necessary political decisions is, in fact, maturing,” added Sergei Lavrov.
The 1987 INF Treaty was concluded between Mikhail Gorbachev and US President Ronald Reagan. The document prohibited the use of missiles with a range of 500 to 5.5 thousand km in Europe. On August 2, 2019, the contract terminated.
In October 2021, the United States demanded that Russia remove from Europe missiles prohibited by the INF Treaty.
President Vladimir Putin proposed to NATO a mutual renunciation of intermediate- and shorter-range missiles in Europe; the alliance rejected the proposal.
In January 2022, Secretary of State Antony Blinken did not rule out restoring the INF Treaty.
In April of the same year, the Russian Foreign Ministry called on the United States to return to discussing the moratorium on the INF Treaty.
