Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened on Sunday to restart the production of intermediate-range nuclear weapons if the United States intends to deploy missiles in Germany or elsewhere in Europe.
“If the United States puts such plans into action, we will consider ourselves free from the previously adopted unilateral ban on the deployment of medium- and short-range strike capabilities,” Putin said during a naval parade in St. Petersburg.
Putin noted that in Russia now “the development of several such systems is in the final stages.”
“We will take similar steps in their deployment, taking into account the actions of its satellites over the United States, Europe and other regions of the world,” the Russian president warned.
Such missiles, which can range from 500 to 5,500 kilometres (300–3,400 mi), were the subject of an arms control treaty signed by the United States and the Soviet Union in 1987.
But both Washington and Moscow withdrew from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty in 2019 and accused each other of violations.
Russia later said it would not resume production of such missiles until the United States deployed the missiles abroad.
In early July, Washington and Berlin announced that “relevant deployments” of long-range US missiles, including Tomahawk cruise missiles, in Germany would begin in 2026.
Putin said “important Russian administrative and military sites” would come within range of such missiles, which “in the future could be equipped with nuclear warheads, putting our territories within 10 minutes of a strike.”
The Russian president also pointed out that the US has deployed Typhon medium-range missile systems in Denmark and the Philippines in recent exercises.
Memories of the Cold War
“This situation reminds us of the events of the Cold War, connected with the deployment of American Pershing medium-range missiles in Europe,” Putin said.
At the height of the Cold War in the 1980s, the United States deployed American Pershing ballistic missiles in West Germany.
American missiles remained deployed there from German reunification until the 1990s.
But after the end of the Cold War, the United States significantly reduced the number of missiles deployed in Europe as the threat from Moscow diminished.
The Kremlin warned in mid-July that the proposed US deployment would mean European capitals would become targets for Russian missiles.
“We are moving steadily towards a Cold War. All the signs of a Cold War with direct confrontation are returning,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a state TV reporter.
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