US withdrew de facto from INF treaty several years ago

02.02.2019, Moscow.

Washington decided to withdraw from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty several years ago, the Russian Defense Ministry states on February 2.

According to the statement, “in June 2017 the Raytheon military industrial corporation, located in the city of Tucson, Arizona, launched a program on the expansion and modernization of its production capacities in order to produce intermediate-range missiles prohibited by the Treaty.”

The Russian Defense Ministry says that Washington has been preparing production of intermediate-range missiles prohibited by the Treaty for more than two years. During this period, the corporation’s floor space expanded from 55 to 79 thousand square meters (up to 44%).

On February 1, the US officially announced its withdrawal from the INF Treaty effective February 2. Today, during a meeting in Kremlin, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that following the US’ decision, Russia is also withdrawing from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.

Source: Rossa Primavera News Agency

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