Russia to lift moratorium on medium- and short-range missiles – Foreign Minister Lavrov

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has announced that Russia will lift its moratorium on deploying medium- and short-range missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads.

Source: Radio Liberty, citing Lavrov in an interview with Kremlin-aligned Russian news agency RIA Novosti 

Details: Lavrov attributed this decision to the deployment of similar weapons by the United States. 

He said the US had "ignored warnings from Russia and China and has practically begun deploying weapons of this class in various regions of the world".

Lavrov mentioned the Oreshnik missile strike on Ukraine as an example of "combat testing" of a medium-range ballistic missile.

When asked if Russia might withdraw from the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) before its expiration in February 2026, Lavrov stated that "it is now clear, for example, that our [Russian] moratorium on deploying medium- and short-range missiles is practically unviable and we will have to abandon it."

For reference: Medium- and short-range missiles are ground-based ballistic and cruise missiles with a range of 500 to 5,500 kilometres, usually designed to carry nuclear warheads.

The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty was signed in 1987 in Washington between the United States and the Soviet Union, remaining in force until 2019. The US administration then stated that Russia had violated the treaty by deploying the 9M729 missile system and announced its withdrawal. The Russian Foreign Ministry officially declared the treaty had ceased to be in force in August 2019.

Meanwhile, Russian leader Vladimir Putin stated that if US medium-range missiles were deployed in Europe, Russia would be compelled to deploy them as well but emphasised that Russia would not be the first to deploy such missiles in Europe. The US and NATO have since claimed that Russia has effectively violated its self-declared moratorium, citing the deployment of 9M729 missiles. Western experts assert these missiles have a range exceeding 500 kilometres, a claim Moscow denies.

Background: 

• Russian leader Vladimir Putin said in a speech to the Russian Defence Ministry that the West was "pushing Russia to the red line", and Moscow could not help but respond.
• Putin also said that US plans to deploy medium- and short-range precision-guided missiles in Europe were "causing concern" and that Russia would lift its restrictions under the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty if the US started deploying such systems.

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