18.04.2024, Moscow.
The United States may deploy new ground-based medium-range missile systems along Russia’s borders, Aleksandr Stepanov, a military expert, director of the Academy of Political Sciences, and senior researcher at the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Latin America, suggested on April 18, TASS wrote.
According to Stepanov, after the United States withdraws from the Intermediate-Range and Shorter-Range Missile Elimination Treaty (INF Treaty), Washington may deploy MRC (Mid-Range Capability) missile systems on the territory of NATO member states.
“The deployment of MRC on the continental territory of the new NATO member states – Finland and Sweden – will allow the alliance to project threats both in the Baltic and the Arctic,” the expert concluded.
He suggested that the Aland Islands in the Baltic Sea, the distance from which to St. Petersburg is about 500 km, could be militarized. He specified that the range of the Tomahawk used by the MRC is 1,800 km.
Explaining the probability of the US deployment of medium-range missile weapons on Russia’s borders, the military expert proceeded from the logic of a unified concept and strategy, extrapolating the precedent set by the US in the Philippines.
After the United States withdrew from the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, the first MRC systems was delivered there. This was done as part of the Salaknib 24 joint exercise with Manila.
Stepanov explained that the presence of this missile system makes it possible to use Tomahawk cruise missiles against Chinese forces if China launches an operation to annex Taiwan.
The expert also added that this threatens China’s use of transportation and logistics corridors in the Asia-Pacific region, which poses risks to China’s trade and economic ties with its partners.
The INF Treaty was suspended on August 2, 2019 due to the expiration of a six-month period after the US notified of its intention to withdraw.
The treaty between the USSR and the United States was signed in 1987, entering into force in 1988. Under the treaty, the parties pledged to destroy missiles with a range of 500 to 5,500 kilometers, as well as all relevant launchers. It was also forbidden to test new models of missiles of this category.
Source: Rossa Primavera News Agency
