Russia will abandon the moratorium on the deployment of medium- and short-range nuclear missiles, as the United States has deployed such weapons in various regions around the world, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said, Reuters and Focus reported.
This move by Russia, which has been signaled for a long time, could destroy the remnants of one of the most significant arms control treaties since the Cold War. This comes amid concerns that the world's two largest nuclear powers could be engaged in a new arms race with China, the British agency notes.
Russia and the United States, which admit that their relations are worse than at any time since the end of the Cold War, have expressed regret over the collapse of arms control treaties. These agreements were intended to limit the arms race and reduce the risk of nuclear war.
Asked by the Russian news agency RIA whether Russia could withdraw from the New START Treaty before its expiration in February 2026, Lavrov said that currently “there are no conditions“ for a strategic dialogue with Washington.
"Today it is clear that, for example, our moratorium on the deployment of short- and medium-range missiles is no longer practically viable and will have to be abandoned," Lavrov said.
"The United States arrogantly ignored the warnings of Russia and China and in fact proceeded to deploy weapons of this class in different regions of the world."
The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, signed by Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan in 1987, was the first agreement in which superpowers agreed to reduce their nuclear arsenals, eliminating an entire category of nuclear weapons.
In 2019, the United States, under the leadership of Donald Trump, formally withdrew from the INF, saying that Moscow was violating the agreement — a charge that the Kremlin has repeatedly denied, calling it a pretext. In response, Russia imposed a moratorium on the development of missiles that were banned by the treaty — ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges of 500 km to 5,500 km.