The US withdrawal from the Treaty on the Elimination of Intermediate-Range and Shorter-Range Missiles (INF Treaty) may trigger an arms race in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Friday.
The states withdrew from the INF Treaty, a key international document, one of the symbols of the detente of the 80s, last August under the pretext of violations of the agreement allegedly committed by Russia. Moscow had no choice but to follow Washington, so the treaty, being left without signatory countries, ceased to operate.
“The US withdrawal from the INF Treaty threatens the system of strategic stability in the world and could provoke a new arms race, not only in the European, but also in the Asia-Pacific region”, – Shoigu said during a joint meeting with the Belarusian military.
According to him, the use of “unilateral, including coercive, actions in violation of international law” is becoming the norm in international relations.
In the context of the collapse of the INF Treaty, American military leaders have repeatedly noted that the States can deploy banned hitherto missiles primarily not in Europe, but in Asia, near China, which they see as the main geopolitical competitor of the United States.
Russian President Vladimir Putin in this regard noted that Russia will deploy such missiles only in response to similar US actions.
In September, it became known that the Russian president sent a message to the leaders of several countries, including NATO members, with a proposal to introduce a moratorium on the deployment of medium- and shorter-range missiles in Europe and other regions. However, according to Putin himself, he never received a response to his appeal.