Moscow will monitor the potential deployment of American short- and intermediate-range missiles in various parts of the world, Vladimir Putin has told the military.
The US has effectively dismantled the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty this year, Putin said at an annual gathering of the Defense Ministry board, which gives new reasons for Russia to be vigilant. The treaty in question banned land-based ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and missile launchers with ranges of up to 5,500km (3,418 miles).
Therefore, we have to monitor possible deployment of American missiles of this class in various parts of the world, first of all Europe and Asia-Pacific
While keeping an eye on these developments, Moscow also needs to “analyze potential military threats and determine measures for the use and further improvement of the armed forces.”
The Pentagon is ramping up its strike capabilities after withdrawal from the INF, Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said at the same event. The US military will soon be able to scramble nuclear-armed bombers in just 24 hours, reducing the readiness time from the previous ten days.
Aside from that, the Baltic countries witnessed the construction of US early-warning radars capable of scanning Russian airspace within 450km, the minister said. Meanwhile, NATO holds “up to forty explicitly anti-Russian large-scale drills.”
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