Indeed, the spokesperson for the Russian presidency, Dmitri Peskov, announced on Tuesday that Russia no longer imposes “No restriction” For the deployment of weapons of intermediate range, the day after the lifting of his moratorium on the issue. However, he warned that he “You shouldn’t expect announcements” in the event of the deployment of such missiles by Moscow, because it is “From a fairly sensitive and confidential field”.
These armaments concern a category of missiles that can take nuclear or conventional charges, launched from the soil and a range ranging from 500 to 5,500 kilometers, that is to say capable of reaching Europe.
The day before, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that Russia raised its moratorium on the deployment of weapons of intermediate range, accusing the United States of preparing arms deployments that threaten its security.
The United States had withdrawn in 2019 from the Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty (FNI, signed in 1987 by Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev), a text which limited the production and deployment of these armaments. Pentagon and NATO explained that Moscow had the Novator 9m729 missile in its arsenal (or SSC-8), able to strike European cities. Moscow challenged, saying – without proving it – that the scope of this armament is limited to 480 kilometers.
Russia had then assured that it would continue to observe a moratorium on the production and deployment of such devices if the Americans did not deploy at a distance which would allow them to reach Russian territory. However, Moscow accused Washington on Monday of having launched “Serial production” Such devices and prepare their deployment in Europe and Asia.
A system capable of carrying missiles of intermediate range was thus transferred to Denmark in 2023, in the Philippines in April 2024 and in Australia in 2025, according to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Commenting on this announcement, the former Russian president, Dmitri Medvedev, assured on social network X that she is “The result of the anti -rusing policy led by the NATO countries. (…) This is a new reality with which all [les] opponents [de la Russie] will have to compose. Other measures are to be expected ”.
Several treaties concluded during the Cold War between Washington and Moscow and intended to limit the race for nuclear weapons and to appease tensions, have ended in recent years.
