At a press conference following the recent Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Astana, Kazakhstan, Vladimir Putin explained that once the U.S. withdrew from the INF in 2019, Russia was no longer bound by the restrictions either.
"As I've said, in connection with the U.S. withdrawal from this treaty and the announcement that they are starting production, we also consider ourselves entitled to start research, development, and in the future, production," Putin said.
"We are conducting this R&D and we are ready to start production. We have already, in principle, given the relevant instructions to our industry."
Citing the "hostile actions" of the U.S. regime, Putin said much the same at a recent meeting of the National Security Council in Moscow.
"We now know that the U.S. is not only producing these missile systems, but has also brought them to Europe, Denmark, to use in exercises. Not long ago, it was reported that they were in the Philippines."
All of this is escalating because of Western aggression, Putin emphasized. Moscow has no choice, he says, but to revive its short- and intermediate-range missile programs, which will be deployed "based on the actual situation, if necessary."
(Related: Did you catch our report about what NATO and the West are planning to ignite WWIII?)
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U.S. was violating INF treaty for many years
The INF treaty began in 1987 when both the U.S. and the then-Soviet Union agreed to ban production and use of ground-based ballistic and cruise missiles, as well as their respective launchers. Such missiles have a range of between 310 and 3,420 miles.
Air- and sea-based systems with the same range were not included in the ban – only ground-based missiles were prohibited. This arrangement helped to lower tensions concerning the deployment of nuclear weapons in Europe.
Russia, which succeeded the Soviet Union, agreed to adhere to the treaty in the years that followed, even though the U.S. continued to build installations across Eastern Europe in direct violation of it. Then in 2019, the U.S. officially pulled out of the treaty, which it was not following anyway.
According to U.S. officials, the decision to withdraw from the INF treaty in 2019 was based on Moscow's alleged violations of it, though there has not been any evidence provided by the U.S. to back that claim.
In the comments, someone noted that it was Donald Trump who abrogated the INF treaty during his term, hence why the U.S. withdrew from it in 2019.
"This was Trump's biggest mistake," this person wrote. "This is a crime. Some believe he paid for it by getting kicked out from the White House in 2020. Others believe he should be jailed for that alone, not for 'horse face stuff.'"
"Lots of Americans and Russians worked hard to achieve this treaty. We were eventually heading for a world free from nuclear weapons but Trump killed it."
Another wrote that what Russia is doing right now will eventually lead to the bankrupting of America, though Russia is not necessarily to blame for that bankrupting – the Federal Reserve and others who run the money system are responsible for what is coming.
"During the Cold War, a lot of hard work was expended so as to reduce the dangers of it turning hot," wrote another about the threat of nuclear war.
"Bit by bit, the fruits of that work are being destroyed as a result of the U.S. government's greedy persistence in trying to force Russia into its hegemon. Very high time it gave up the hopeless task."
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