Russia Says US Violating Intermediate-Range Missiles Treaty- Al Manar TV Website Archive

Russia said that the United States is violating their bilateral deal on prohibition of using intermediate-range cruise missiles through installing the Mk 41 vertical launching systems in Eastern Europe.

“We have grounds to regard land-based Mk 41s as cruise missile launching systems and their deployment on the ground as a direct INF violation by the US side,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday, Sputnik news agency reported. US and Russia flags

The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF), which was signed by then the US President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in 1987, maintains that the two countries cannot possess, produce, or test-fly nuclear and conventional ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with intermediate ranges, defined as between of 500 to 5,500 kilometers (300 to 3,400 miles).

The treaty was formally titled “The Treaty Between the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics on the Elimination of Their Intermediate-Range and Shorter-Range Missiles,” and came into force on June 1, 1988.

The Mark 41 Vertical Launching Systems (Mk 41 VLS), which are originally ship-borne missile canister launching systems, provide a rapid-fire launch capability against hostile threats. Several of them are now stationed in Romania by the US military and will be later redeployed to Poland.

“The aim of this deceptive move is obvious – it is to cast a shadow on our arms controls and to deflect attention from US actions. The situation with the treaty is shamelessly used to escalate the atmosphere of chronic military tension across the Euro-Atlantic space,” the statement further read.

The United States is boosting its rotational forces and military exercises in NATO's eastern flank, including Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Bulgaria, and deploying military hardware in Europe.