The Russian leader threatens to relaunch production of intermediate-range nuclear weapons if the United States sends missiles to Germany.
Russian President Vladimir Putin warned the United States against deploying long-range missiles in Germany, saying Russia would in that case restart production of intermediate-range nuclear weapons and station similar missiles within striking distance of the West. .
The US said on July 10 it would begin deploying long-range missiles in Germany from 2026 as part of a long-term militarization that will include SM-6, Tomahawk cruise missiles and hypersonic weapons under development.
In a speech to sailors from Russia, China, Algeria and India to mark Russian Navy Day in the former imperial capital of St. Petersburg, Putin said on Sunday that the United States risks triggering a Cold War-style missile crisis with measure.
“The flight time to targets on our territory of these missiles, which in the future could be equipped with nuclear warheads, will be about 10 minutes,” Putin said.
“We will take mirrored measures to deploy, taking into account the actions of the United States, its satellites in Europe and other regions of the world.”
These missiles, which can travel between 500 and 5,500 km (310-3,420 miles), were the subject of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, signed by the US and the Soviet Union in 1987. But both Washington and Moscow withdrew of the Treaty. the arms control treaty in 2019, each accusing the other of violations.
Putin, who sent his army to Ukraine in 2022, classifies the war as part of a historic struggle with the West, which, according to him, humiliated Russia after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, by invading what he considers to be the Moscow’s sphere of influence.
Ukraine and the West say Putin is involved in an imperial-style land grab. They pledged to defeat Russia, which currently controls about 18% of Ukraine, including Crimea, and parts of four regions in eastern Ukraine.
Russia says the lands, which were once part of the Russian empire, are now part of Russia again and will never be returned.
‘Direct confrontation’
Russian and American diplomats say relations are worse than during the 1962 Cuban missile crisis. While both powers call for de-escalation, they are also accused of taking steps toward escalation.
Putin said the US had transferred Typhon missile systems to Denmark and the Philippines and compared the US plans to NATO’s decision to deploy Pershing II launchers in Western Europe in 1979.
The Soviet leadership, including General Secretary Yuri Andropov, feared that the Pershing II deployments were part of an elaborate U.S.-led plan to decapitate the Soviet Union by eliminating its political and military leadership.
“This situation is reminiscent of the events of the Cold War related to the deployment of American medium-range Pershing missiles in Europe,” Putin said.
The US deployed Pershing ballistic missiles in West Germany in the 1980s, at the height of the Cold War. US missiles remained stationed during German reunification and into the 1990s.
But after the end of the Cold War, the US significantly reduced the number of missiles stationed in Europe as the threat from Moscow diminished.
The Kremlin had already warned in mid-July that the proposed US deployment would mean that European capitals would become a target for Russian missiles.
“We are taking firm steps towards the Cold War. All the attributes of the Cold War with direct confrontation are returning,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a state TV reporter.
This story originally appeared on Aljazeera.com read the full story
