Click to see the full-size image. An image released by the Russian Defense Ministry via RT with several marks by SF
Washington opted to leave the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty several years ago and spent this time developing the banned weapons, the Russian Defense Ministry said on February 2, according to RT.
According to the Russian side, the US has been preparing to produce medium and short-range missiles banned under the INF for almost 2 years already.
The Defense Ministry said that in June 2017 Raytheon started preparations to develop and produce INF-banned medium and short-range missiles at its facility in the town of Tucson in the state of Arizona. The image released by the defense ministry via RT shows multiple production, storage and research & development facilities, which are supposedly used for this activity. The image also shows several buildings under construction. According to the defense ministry comment, these buildings would be used to expand the production capacity of this complex.
The defense ministry recalled that in November 2017, the Congress allocated $58 million to the Pentagon explicitly for “research and development program on a ground-launched intermediate-range missile.” This same program was a stated goal in the US defense budget for 2018.
