Found an error?
Report now
ARCHIVE - A guardhouse of the Kremlin (l) and the Foreign Ministry (M, background) stand in the center of the capital. Photo: Ulf Mauder/dpa/Symbolic image
Keystone
Following the withdrawal of the USA from the treaty on the renunciation of land-based short- and medium-range nuclear missiles, Russia is now also officially no longer adhering to the disarmament agreement. The Foreign Ministry in Moscow declared the end of a moratorium under which Russia had, according to its own statements, continued to adhere to the agreement since 2019, even after the US withdrawal. The situation was developing in such a way that land-based short- and medium-range nuclear missiles produced by the US would be stationed in Europe, it said.
Previously, Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin had already threatened that Russia would react "in a mirror-like manner" to the planned deployment of US missiles in Germany in 2026. The weapons for this are close to completion, the Kremlin said a year ago.
Disarmament treaty no longer valid after US withdrawal
The INF Treaty banning these weapons no longer applies anyway following the US withdrawal in 2019. According to Putin, however, Russia had previously imposed a moratorium and continued to adhere to the agreements. The USA, on the other hand, has long complained about Russian violations of the treaty.
The INF Treaty, signed in 1987 by then Kremlin leader Mikhail Gorbachev and US President Ronald Reagan, provided for the elimination of all land-based ballistic missiles and cruise missiles with a shorter range of 500 to 1000 kilometers and an average range of 1000 to 5500 kilometers.
Germany sees danger from Russian missiles
In a Bundeswehr statement on the Russian approach, it was stated that Russia had stationed nuclear-capable Iskander missiles in the exclave of Kaliningrad and could also hit German cities with its medium-range weapons. The plans are a response to this and serve as a deterrent.
The US weapons for Germany are to include Tomahawk cruise missiles, which can technically also be equipped with nuclear weapons, SM-6 air defense missiles and newly developed hypersonic weapons, which are to have a longer range than previously stationed land systems.
04.08.2025, 20:03
