Russia vows to retaliate US' post-INF missile move

MOSCOW

Russia can take action if Washington moves to shift some ground-based missiles to Europe, Russian deputy foreign minister said on Wednesday.

In case of U.S. missiles deployment in Europe, Russia may respond, Sergey Ryabkov said, according to the Interfax news agency.

Ryabkov responded to a question "whether the Russian Federation is considering in the case of the deployment of banned ground-based nuclear missiles INF in Europe" and said the possibility of a symmetrical response existed.

He said "placing similar missiles closer to the United States" is possible.

Such deployments to date have been prohibited by the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty.

The INF treaty has been widely seen as a cornerstone of European security in the post-Cold War era after the U.S. and Russia signed it in 1987. It prohibits both countries from possessing and testing ground launch missiles with a range between 300-3,100 miles.

In October 2018, U.S. President Donald Trump announced an exit from the pact, accusing Moscow of violating it.

This February, the U.S. began the process of withdrawing from the INF Treaty to be completed in six months unless Russia comes back into compliance by destroying all of its violating missiles, launchers, and associated equipment.

Russia also argues that the U.S. has been in breach of the INF Treaty with the use of unmanned aerial vehicles with strike potential, a range of target missiles and universal vertical launcher.

In a tit-for-tat response, Putin signed a bill suspending Moscow's obligations under the INF treaty on July 3.