Russia says it abandons moratorium on deploying short and medium-range missiles

Russia has announced it no longer considers itself bound by a self-imposed moratorium on deploying short- and medium-range missiles, citing growing threats from the U.S. and NATO.

The Russian Foreign Ministry stated on Monday that the conditions for upholding the moratorium have “disappeared,” pointing to the apparent deployment of U.S. land-based missiles in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region.

Moscow had previously pledged not to deploy such weapons following Washington’s withdrawal from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty in 2019—so long as the U.S. refrained from doing the same. But Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned last December that Russia would be forced to respond to what he described as “destabilising actions” by the U.S. and NATO in the strategic domain.

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