American medium-range missiles may soon appear in Europe. This was stated on Thursday, December 2, by the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry Sergey Lavrov.
"The architecture of strategic stability is rapidly being destroyed. <...> American medium-range missiles are about to appear on the territory of Europe," the minister said, speaking at a meeting of the OSCE Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM).
Earlier, on October 27, the Russian Foreign Minister expressed concern about the US desire to deploy intermediate-range and shorter-range missiles (INF) in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. According to him, these US actions will significantly disrupt strategic stability.
On November 2, Russian Senator Alexei Pushkov pointed out that the basis of the US nuclear strategy is criminal stupidity. He stressed that the introduction of new technologies does not contribute to the security of the United States, but undermines it.
Later, on November 19, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko recalled the initiative of Russian President Vladimir Putin. In particular, the head of state announced reciprocal moratoriums on the deployment of medium- and shorter-range missiles. According to Grushko, this initiative has become even more relevant in modern conditions.
The Treaty on the Elimination of Intermediate-Range and Shorter-Range Missiles was concluded between the USSR and the United States in 1987 and prohibited the two States from producing and deploying intermediate-range and shorter-range ballistic and cruise missiles.
In February 2019, Washington began the procedure for withdrawing from the INF Treaty, accusing Moscow of not fulfilling the points of the document due to the presence of the 9M729 missile, whose flight range allegedly exceeds permissible norms. In the Russian Federation, these accusations were rejected and expressed readiness to demonstrate the missile that raised questions, but they did not meet halfway in the United States.
