Putin lunges for 'banned' missiles

Russia should actually start producing short- and medium-range missiles. That is what Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday at a meeting of senior security officials.

Putin was referring to missiles with a range of 500 to 5,500 kilometers from an agreement that was lifted in 2019. These kind of missiles were long banned by a treaty with the United States, but that treaty has since ceased to be in force. At issue is the 1987 INF treaty from which the US withdrew in 2019 because it feared Moscow would violate the agreements.

Missiles can be equipped with nuclear payload

According to Russian state news agency Tass, Putin is concerned about the deployment of short- and medium-range missiles by the US in several regions of the world and Russia is therefore considering producing and also deploying such missiles.

"It is known that the US not only produces these missile systems, but has already brought the missiles to Europe for exercises in Denmark, and recently it was announced that they are in the Philippines. We do not know whether or not they have taken the missiles there," Putin said. "In any case, we have to answer that and decide what to do next," the Russian president responded forcefully.

(SR for Tagtik/Source: Reuters - Tass - HLN/Photo: Pixabay)

Be sure to read all our articles on MSN by subscribing to our content. Click on 'follow', next to our logo above.