MOSCOW, August 4. /TASS/. Russia no longer considers itself bound by self-restrictions on deploying intermediate-and shorter-range missiles (INF) as the conditions for observing the moratorium have vanished, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
The ministry noted certain steps taken by the collective West in the sphere of proliferating such missiles and emphasized that they create a direct threat to Russia’s security. The statement stressed that this requires special measures on the part of Russia.
"With our repeated warnings on that matter having gone ignored and the situation developing towards the de facto deployment of US-made intermediate-and shorter-range ground-based missiles in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region, the Russian Foreign Ministry has to declare that any conditions for the preservation of a unilateral moratorium on the deployment of similar arms no longer exist, and it is further authorized to state that the Russian Federation does not consider itself bound by relevant self-restrictions approved earlier," the ministry noted.
The ministry noted that since 2023, Moscow has observed US systems capable of INF ground launches being transferred to European NATO countries and the Asia-Pacific region for testing during drills with an explicit anti-Russian orientation.
