U.S. Intelligence: Russia Tried to Con the World With Bogus Missile
On Jan. 23, Russian military officials held a press conference, showing off what they said was a cruise missile at the center of a years-long arms control controversy between Washington and Moscow.
Except the presentation was essentially a hoax, according to a classified briefing prepared by U.S. intelligence. Neither the missile, its launch vehicle, or the accompanying schematics were what Russia claimed them to be.
The alleged Russian misdirection came just days before the United States announced that it would withdraw from the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty—the treaty that Russia violated, in the U.S. view.