Lavrov declares Russia’s return to nuclear missile development

Moscow (Eurotoday) – Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced that Russia will rescind its freeze on intermediate- and short-range nuclear missiles. This move follows the reason that the United States has placed weapons of similar types in various parts of the world.

When asked whether Russia might pull out of the New START treaty before it expires in February 2026, Lavrov said there are no conditions for talks with the U.S. on that matter. He said that the freeze on these missiles by Russia is not workable anymore and Russia has to put an end to it. He condemned the United States for ignoring the warnings of both Russia and China before setting them up around the globe.

This would mark one of the most significant arms control treaties that followed the end of the Cold War. It is even imagined that the U.S., Russia, and China are now entering a new arms race. Both Russia and the U.S. have expressed dismay at the collapse of treaties that were meant to slow the nuclear arms race and the fear of a nuclear war.

It was between the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and U.S. President Ronald Reagan in 1987. Such a treaty, one among the first between the two superpowers, touched on the agreement regarding the reduction of nuclear weapons and the complete elimination of one class of nuclear weapons. In the year 2019, the United States stated it was withdrawing from participating saying that Russia is violating the treaty. Moscow denied the accusations and called them just an excuse.

The development of banned missiles by Russia, including those at a range of 500 to 5,500 kilometres or 310 to 3,417 miles, was put on ice as Moscow suspended further development on account of the US pulling out. Former US President Donald Trump had insisted on terminating the treaty because Russia had been violating the treaty, besides China was fast developing its missiles.

According to the U.S., Moscow violated the treaty in designing its 9M729 missile, which NATO identifies as SSC-8. Moscow claimed it would not deploy that missile in its Kaliningrad region along the Baltic coast. Since Russia withdrew from the treaty, the U.S. has tested its SSC-8 missiles.

Russia has been reported to have launched its new intermediate-range hypersonic missile named “Oreshnik” (Hazel Tree) against Ukraine on November 21. According to him, Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, the attack was the direct result of the strikes by the Ukrainians in Russia with US and British missiles.