Since 1987, intermediate range nuclear missiles have been banned under a treat agreed between Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and US President Ronald Reagan. But in 2019, the Donald Trump administration withdrew the US from the pact, saying Russia had violated it for years.
On Monday, amid tensions between Ukraine and Russia that threaten to escalate into a full-fledged war, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Segeri Ryabkov warned that Moscow may be forced to deploy intermediate range nuclear missiles in Europe in response to perceived plans by NATO to do the same.
Such missiles are capable of hitting major cities in Europe within minutes, given their proximity.
The warning came after the G-7 issued a stark condemnation of Russia’s activities against Ukraine, and pressure from the Joe Biden administration to refrain from invasion. Tensions between Russia and NATO are on the rise, though Biden has said there is no proposal to send US troops in the event of a Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Ryabkov said there were indirect indications that NATO was moving closer to re-deploying INF, including its restoration last month of the 56th Artillery Command which operated nuclear-capable Pershing missiles during the Cold War.
"Lack of progress towards a political and diplomatic solution to this problem will lead to our response being of a military and technical military nature," he said in an interview with RIA.
"That is, it will be a confrontation, this will the next round, the appearance of such resources on our side. Right now there aren't any, we have a unilateral moratorium. We call for NATO and the U.S. to join this moratorium."
In 2019, Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened to target the US if missile were deployed in Europe.
Both Russia and the US boosted their nuclear arsenals in 2020, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) had said in a report.
“While the USA and Russia continued to reduce their overall nuclear weapon inventories by dismantling retired warheads in 2020, both are estimated to have had around 50 more nuclear warheads in operational deployment at the start of 2021 than a year earlier. Russia also increased its overall military nuclear stockpile by around 180 warheads, mainly due to deployment of more multi-warhead land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) and sea-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs). Both countries’ deployed strategic nuclear forces remained within the limits set by the 2010 Treaty on Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms (New START), although the treaty does not limit total nuclear warhead inventories,” the report said.
