Russia will retaliate strongly against the US, threatens Russian President

Moscow: ‘Russia will not make any fresh missile deployment in retaliation against the US withdrawal from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty as Russia does not want to start any fresh dispute. But, if the United States attempts deploying short or medium-range missiles in Europe, Russia will deploy missiles targeting not only the European countries but even the United States,’ warned Putin. During his speech at the Russian parliament, President Putin once again declared Russia’s defence preparedness and asserted that Russia was prepared for any situation.

Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened the United States in clear words regarding its withdrawal from the INF. President Putin criticised ‘Russia is not interested in being the first to deploy missiles near the borders of the European countries. But if the United States deploys missiles in Europe, it will increase the threat to Russia as well as the whole world. ’The Russian President claimed that some of these missiles could hit Russia, within 10 to 12 minutes. President Putin pointed out that in such a scenario, Russia also will be forced to take specific steps for self-defence. Admiral Sevolov Khamirov claimed that Russia had missiles that could crash in the United States in five minutes.

Putin announced that Russia would deploy missiles targeting the countries using the missiles, threatening the Russian security and the countries accepting the deployment. The Russian President did not specify the type of missiles Russia will deploy. But Putin claimed that the US military analysts would not be able to measure the speed of these Russian missiles. President Putin said that these Russian missiles would be aimed at the US Command Centres and Control Centres. After delivering this threat to the United States, President Putin said that the Laser systems would be deployed at the end of this year.

At the same time, Putin lashed out at the United States for unnecessarily accusing Russia, who was abiding by the INF. Putin said that bilateral treaty had kept the missile manufacturing of Russia and the United States within limits. The missile manufactured by other countries was not a part of this agreement, which is the primary cause of concern for the United States and Russia will also understand this. But it was not fair on the part of the United States, to level accusations against Russia for withdrawing from the treaty. President Putin was seemingly referring to the Chinese missile program at this time.

At the beginning of February, the United States announced withdrawal from the INF treaty. There is a ban on the manufacture of missiles with a range between 500 to 5,000 kilometres. The United States had accused that Russia was not abiding by the agreement, regarding the nuclear weapon manufacturing. The United States had claimed it to be a significant security threat to the country.

Russia had criticised the decision of the United States. This treaty had nothing to do with US security. Anatoly Antonov, the Russian Ambassador to the United States, had made a counter allegation saying that the United States, withdrawing from the treaty, has given importance to missile manufacture, compromising the security of the European countries.