Lavrov clarifies:

Arms agreement no longer binding for Russia

According to Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Russia no longer considers itself bound by a standstill agreement regarding an arms control treaty with the USA. As the USA is deploying short and medium-range missiles, Russia would no longer have to adhere to the INF Treaty, Lavrov said in an interview with the RIA news agency published on Sunday.

"Today it is clear, for example, that our moratorium on the deployment of short- and medium-range missiles is practically no longer feasible and must be abandoned. The US has arrogantly ignored the warnings of Russia and China and in practice has proceeded to deploy weapons of this class in various regions of the world," said the Russian foreign minister.

Treaty between the USA and the Soviet Union
The INF Treaty (Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces) was concluded between the USA and the Soviet Union at the end of 1987. It provides for the elimination of all land-based ballistic missiles and cruise missiles with short and medium ranges.

Ship- and aircraft-based systems and land-based short-range nuclear systems with a range of less than 500 kilometers are not covered by the INF Treaty.

The USA withdrew from the treaty in 2019. Russia has since declared that it will not deploy such weapons as long as the USA does not do so.