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On February 7, the Russian Defence Ministry stated that the US had been violating the INF Treaty for multiple years, creating conditions for the production of missiles banned by the agreement.
“Despite the openness of the Russian Defence Ministry to a substantive dialogue on the parties’ fulfilment of their obligations under the INF Treaty, the United States has not provided any evidence to support their stated position. At the same time, the United States has not taken the required action to eliminate the breach of its own obligations under the treaty”, Russian Defence Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said.
Konashenkov stressed that Moscow urged the US to return to the INF compliance and destroy its “Mk-41 universal launchers, designed for launching Tomahawk cruise missiles and target missiles” and strike aerial drones, which fall under “land-based cruise missile” category.
The Russian military summoned the US military attaché in Moscow on February 6 to hand him the treaty-related memo.
Maj. Gen. Konashenkov added that the Russian side “categorically denies groundless claims of Russia violating its obligations under the treaty.”
