Russia drops moratorium on deploying medium, shorter range missiles

Alsharq Tribune-AFP 

The Russian Foreign Ministry said Monday that the country no longer considers itself bound by self-restrictions on deploying medium- and short-range ground-based missiles.

The foreign ministry noted the disappearance of "conditions for maintaining a unilateral moratorium on the deployment of similar systems" under the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.

Steps by the West led to the buildup of destabilizing missile potentials in the regions adjacent to Russia, posing a direct threat to the country's strategic security, the ministry said.

The nuclear treaty was an arms control deal between the United States and the Soviet Union. In 2019, the U.S. side withdrew from the treaty, citing Russian non-compliance. Russia had suspended the treaty and declared a moratorium on the condition that the U.S. does the same.