The Russian President Vladimir Putin has called for a “tit-for-tat” response after the U.S President Donald Trump moved to formally withdraw the United States from the Cold War–era INF (Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces) Treaty. On Tuesday, Russia’s Tass news agency reported, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said that the United States is actively working on creating ground-based missiles with the range capability of over 500 kilometers and it is outside the treaty-stipulated limitations. The Russian president has set the task for the Defense Ministry to take tit-for-tat mirrored measures in this situation”.
Shoigu said Russia would work to develop a ground-based version of the sea-launched caliber system with the long-range cruise missile. He added, ”It was necessary to increase the firing range of ground-based missile systems being developed today”. The INF agreement was signed in 1987 by President Ronald Reagan and Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev. It was designed to eliminate short medium-range (310 to 620 miles) and intermediate-range (620 to 3,420 miles) land-based ballistic and cruise missiles and their launchers from both nations.
Russia also blamed the U.S of violating the INF Treaty deal. Last week, Trump administration announced that it would withdraw from the decades-old pact and blamed Moscow of violating its terms. Trump said, “We cannot be the only country in the world unilaterally bound by this treaty or any other. We will move forward with developing our own military response options and will work with NATO and our other allies and partners to deny Russia any military advantage from its unlawful conduct”.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned on Monday that Washington was preparing to destroy the entire arms control system” and said “a new era has begun. He pointed out that experts were suggesting the U.S would also end the (New START) Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, which is set to expire in 2021. New START was signed in 2010 during the Obama administration. It updated the former START I treaty signed by the former U.S President George H.W. Bush in 1991.