Russia has decided to lift a moratorium on the deployment of intermediate and shorter-range nuclear-capable missiles, citing the United States’ global deployment of such weapons, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced on Sunday.
This long-anticipated move effectively ends the remnants of one of the most important arms control agreements from the Cold War era, raising concerns that the world’s two largest nuclear powers, along with China, may be on the brink of reigniting an arms race. The breakdown of these treaties comes as both Russia and the United States acknowledge that their relations are at their lowest point since the height of the Cold War, with both countries expressing regret over the collapse of the intricate web of arms control agreements that were designed to slow down the arms race and mitigate the threat of nuclear conflict.
When asked by state news agency RIA about the possibility of Russia withdrawing from the New START treaty before its scheduled expiration in February 2026, Lavrov stated that there are currently “no conditions” for any strategic dialogue with Washington.
“Today it is clear that, for example, our moratorium on the deployment of short- and intermediate-range missiles is no longer practically viable and will have to be abandoned,” Lavrov said.
Lavrov also criticized the U.S., saying, “The U.S. has arrogantly ignored the warnings of Russia and China and in practice has moved on to the deployment of weapons of this class in various regions of the world.”
The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, signed by Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan in 1987, was a milestone in nuclear arms control, marking the first time that the superpowers agreed to reduce their nuclear arsenals and eliminate an entire category of nuclear weapons.
The United States, under former President Donald Trump, officially withdrew from the INF Treaty in 2019, citing Russia’s violations of the treaty—allegations that the Kremlin has consistently denied, claiming they were merely a pretext for withdrawal.
Following this, Russia imposed its own moratorium on the development of missiles that had previously been prohibited by the INF Treaty, specifically ground-based ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges between 500 km and 5,500 km (310 miles to 3,417 miles).
In 2018, Trump announced that he wanted to terminate the INF Treaty, citing what he described as years of Russian violations and concerns over China’s growing intermediate-range missile capabilities.
The U.S. blamed Russia’s development of the 9M729 ground-launched cruise missile, known as the SSC-8 in NATO terms, as the primary reason for its departure from the INF Treaty.
In his moratorium proposal, Putin suggested that Russia could refrain from deploying these missiles in its Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad. Since leaving the agreement, the U.S. has tested missiles of a similar type.
On November 21, Russia launched a new intermediate-range hypersonic ballistic missile, named “Oreshnik” or Hazel Tree, at Ukraine in what Putin described as a direct response to Ukrainian forces’ strikes on Russia using U.S. and British missiles.
{Matzav.com}