Russia to abandon nuclear arms treaty after US accuses Moscow of deploying banned missiles
Vladimir Putin has said Russia will develop nuclear weapons prohibited by a centerpiece arms treaty, after Moscow and Washington both abandoned the pact amid a dispute over alleged violations.
The Kremlin said on Saturday that it was pulling out of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty a day after the US announced its withdrawal, accusing Russia of deploying missiles that violated the terms of the Cold War agreement.
In a deepening standoff that has prompted warnings of a repeat of a Cold War showdown and calls for deescalation from China, Mr Putin said he was ordering the military to develop new land-based weapons banned by the INF pact.
His defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, said in the televised meeting that they would include a land-based version of the Kalibr ship-based cruise missile and a new hypersonic intermediate-range ballistic missile.
The Russian leader said they would not be deployed unless the US also did so, but vowed a "quid pro quo" response.
"Our American partners have announced they were suspending their participation in the treaty and will do the same. They have announced they will conduct research and development, and we will act accordingly," Mr Putin said.
"Russia will not station intermediate-range weapons in Europe or other regions until similar US weapons appear in those regions," he added.
Donald Trump, the US president, claimed on Friday that Moscow was violating the treaty with "impunity" and said Washington would move forward with developing its own military response to Russia's deployment of banned cruise missiles capable of reaching Western Europe.
Moscow has dismissed the claims as fabrications aimed at putting the blame onto Russia for the demise of the bilateral 1987 treaty, which was negotiated by Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev to end a Cold War buildup of warheads.
The ratcheting tensions drew calls from Beijing for the two rival powers to "resolve differences through constructive dialogue".
Geng Shuang, a spokesperson for the Chinese foreign ministry, warned the US withdrawal from the treaty could trigger "a series of negative consequences".
But Beijing ruled out joining a new multilateral pact - another irritant to Washington, which says that some 95 per cent of China's ballistic and cruise missiles would fall foul of the INF treaty if it were party to it.
Mr Putin also said he would review progress on building other weapons not covered by the INF treaty, including the intercontinental Avangard hypersonic glide vehicle and the Poseidon underwater nuclear drone.
The Russian president used his annual address last year to unveil an array of new "invincible" nuclear weapons, including the Avangard and the Poseidon. The Avangard, he claimed, could travel at 20 times the speed of sound and strike "like a fireball".
Mr Putin also said he wanted the Russian military to prepare a response to the possible deployment of weapons in space - a move that follows Mr Trump's announcement last month that he wants to develop space-based sensors and missile defence systems.
The US leader said at the time that space was the new arena for war as he called for the sensors to detect missile launches, as part of his Space Force proposal for a military department specifically focused on space.
On Saturday, Iran also announced the "successful test" of a new cruise missile with a range of over 1,350 kilometres (839 miles), coinciding with anniversary celebrations for the country's 1979 Islamic revolution.
