Timing of US missile test shows it was in development long before Washington left INF – Putin

A recent test of a US missile banned by the INF risks backfiring on global security, Vladimir Putin warned. The Russian president said it shows Washington was not interested in the landmark accord for quite some time.

“The US swiftness in testing the new missile after they left the INF Treaty indicates that they started working on it long before they began looking for reasons to leave the agreement,” according to the Russian president.

That was just too quick.

The Russian leader also cautioned Europeans that Washington might not inform its allies about the software it plans to use in the new missiles, arguing that they could be potentially launched from sites located in some EU states.

I am concerned that the recently tested missile can be launched from Poland and Romania. Some new software would be enough to do that.

That, in turn, will pose a clear danger to Russia, according to the president. To counter that security challenge, Moscow will have to opt for “countermeasures,” including development of its own ground-launched short- and mid-range missiles. At the same time, Kremlin would not be the first to deploy such weapons close to European states unless the US does so first.

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The Pentagon revealed earlier this week that the US military tested a “conventionally configured ground-launched cruise missile.” It came just about two weeks after the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) officially expired on August 1.

The new weapon successfully hit its target more than 500km (310 miles) away – exactly at a distance banned by the 1987 landmark agreement prohibiting all ground-launched missiles with a range of between 500km and 5,500km.Washington announced its decision to withdraw from the treaty six months before the test-launch, in February, while accusing Russia of developing a non-compliant missile system.

Moscow repeatedly denied the accusations and even invited international inspections of the system in question but no one took the offer. It further maintained that Washington was simply looking for a pretext to abandon the treaty which was once hailed as a milestone in ending the Cold War.