Russia will lift its moratorium on the deployment of medium-range missiles if the United States follows through on a plan to station long-range missiles in Germany, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said.
Addressing naval cadets in St. Petersburg, Russia, Mr. Putin said U.S. missiles deployed in Germany would be able to strike Russian “state and military command facilities, administrative-industrial centers, and defense infrastructure.”
“The fly-in time of such missiles—that can eventually be equipped with nuclear warheads—will constitute about 10 minutes to reach targets on our territory,” he said.
Mr. Putin went on to assert that Russia, in response to the threat, was developing novel “strike systems” that are now in the “final stage.”
“We will take tit-for-tat measures on their deployment, considering the actions of the United States and its satellites in Europe and other regions of the world,” he said.
In response to The Epoch Times’ request for comment on Mr. Putin’s remarks, the U.S. Defense Department stated, “We have nothing to read out at this time.”
The U.S. State Department didn’t respond to The Epoch Times’ request for comment by publication time.
They added that the planned deployments were meant to pave the way for the “enduring stationing of these capabilities in the future.”
The planned deployments will include SM-6, Tomahawk, and “developmental hypersonic missiles” that “have a significantly longer range than current land-based fires in Europe,” according to the statement.
The United States has not openly deployed such missile systems in Europe since the height of the Cold War, which ended with the Soviet Union’s collapse in 1991.
According to the joint statement, the move is intended to demonstrate Washington’s continued commitment to the Western NATO alliance and its “contributions to European integrated deterrence.”
The announcement coincided with a landmark NATO summit in Washington, where alliance members—including Germany—reiterated their support for Ukraine, which Russia invaded in February 2022.
The declaration went on to label Russia “the most significant and direct threat to [NATO] allies’ security.”
Speaking on the summit’s sidelines, a spokesman for German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called the planned U.S. missile deployments a “necessary step to deter Russia.”
At the time, Sergey Ryabkov, Russia’s deputy foreign minister, called the move an “intimidation tactic,” adding that Moscow would formulate a “military response.”
Anatoly Antonov, Moscow’s envoy to Washington, called the U.S.–German decision a “serious mistake” that risked igniting “uncontrollable escalation amid the dangerous aggravation of tensions along the Russia–NATO track.”
Mr. Antonov also accused the United States of ignoring the “dangerous consequences of breaking the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty.”
Signed in 1987 by Washington and Moscow, the INF Treaty effectively banned the deployment of ground-based missile systems with ranges of more than 300 miles.
In 2019, the United States unilaterally withdrew from the treaty, claiming that Russia had violated its terms by developing intermediate-range cruise missiles.
Moscow denies the allegation.
Last month, Mr. Putin threatened to resume production of Russian medium-range missiles that had been banned under the INF Treaty.
According to Moscow, the United States is currently producing its own medium-range missiles and has already deployed them in Europe and Southeast Asia.
On July 18, Mr. Ryabkov said Moscow had not ruled out the possibility of deploying nuclear missiles if the United States began stationing missiles in Germany.
Russia invaded eastern Ukraine with the stated aim of protecting Russian speakers in the Donbas region and halting NATO’s further eastward expansion.
Kyiv and its allies have condemned Russia’s invasion as an unprovoked land grab.
