Putin instructed to 'symmetrically respond' to tests of new American missile

Russian President Vladimir Putin instructed to take "comprehensive measures to prepare a symmetrical response" to the US tests of the new Tomahawk rocket, whose flight range is more than 500 km. The president made such a statement at a meeting with permanent members of the Security Council (a transcript is published on the website The Kremlin).

Photo: video frame kremlin.ru

Putin noted that such missiles were banned by the Treaty on the Elimination of Intermediate and Shorter Range Missiles (INF Treaty). He also drew attention to the fact that during the tests used the universal launcher MK-41. Its placement on land was a violation of the agreement, writes Merchant.

“The Americans stubbornly rejected this, arguing that ground-based MK-41s were allegedly not capable of launching Tomahawk sea-based cruise missiles.” Now the fact of the violation is obvious, it is impossible to dispute it - they themselves said so,” the president noted.

On the subject: USA tested missiles banned by INF Treaty, Russia announced provocation

“It is noteworthy that the tests of a missile with characteristics prohibited under this Treaty took place only 16 days after the completion of the procedure for denunciation of this Treaty, initiated by Washington. And it is obvious that it was not improvisation, but became another link in the chain of events that had long been planned and carried out earlier. We previously had information that the United States has been developing weapons prohibited under the INF Treaty for a long time. We have repeatedly pointed this out to our partners. But instead of correcting this unacceptable situation and returning to compliance with the Treaty, the Americans orchestrated a propaganda campaign about Russia’s alleged non-compliance with the provisions of this Treaty, Putin said. “All this leaves no doubt about the true intentions of the United States: by getting rid of established restrictions, to give itself a free hand to deploy previously banned missiles in various regions of the world.”

Фото: Depositphotos

“At the same time, keeping in mind the newly emerging circumstances, I instruct the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and other relevant departments to analyze the level of threat posed by the mentioned actions of the United States for our country and take comprehensive measures to prepare a symmetrical response,” he said Putin.

On the subject: Accused each other of an arms race: what happened at a meeting of the UN Security Council on missile tests

The President of the Russian Federation added that the Russian authorities “never wanted, do not want and will not get involved in an expensive, destructive arms race for our economy.” According to him, the development of "the latest, really unparalleled in the world, systems of the latest weapons was caused and, it can be said, provoked by the US unilateral withdrawal from the Treaty on the Limitation of Anti-Ballistic Missile Defense in the 2003 year and was carried out in order to ensure the security of the people and the country."

2 August USA officially withdrawn from the Treaty on the elimination of intermediate and shorter-range missiles, which they concluded with Russia. Washington’s claims, in particular, were caused by the Russian 9М729 missile with a flight range that “violates” the INF Treaty. Moscow also pointed out for violations by Washington. It was about the Mk-41 installations in Romania, from which missiles with a previously forbidden range could be launched. Newsweek indicates that the California-tested rocket was launched from the universal installation of the Mk-41.

What is the INF?

• The Treaty on Medium and Short Range Missiles, signed by the USA and the USSR in 1987, prohibited all complexes of nuclear and non-nuclear ground-based missiles with an average (1000-5500 km) and a smaller (500-1000 km) radius of action.
• The US was worried about the deployment of the SS-20 missile system, and in response, America deployed Pershing missiles and cruise missiles in Europe, triggering large-scale protest reactions.
• By 1991, about 2700 missiles were destroyed.
• In May, 2007, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov, stated that "the treaty is no longer effective, since dozens of states have emerged that have such missiles." In the same year, Vladimir Putin declared the need to make the INF Treaty multilateral, but then the administration of Barack Obama showed no interest in the Moscow initiative.
• In 2002, the United States withdrew from the treaty on the limitation of missile defense systems.

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