Russia ends moratorium on intermediate-range missile deployment

Russia on Monday (August 1, 2025) introduced that it was withdrawing from its self-imposed moratorium on the deployment of intermediate-range missiles.

The transfer comes after U.S. President Donald Trump ordered the repositioning of two American nuclear submarines nearer to Russian shores, escalating tensions between the 2 Cold War-era rivals.

“Russia doesn’t take into account itself anymore sure by self-restrictions on deploying intermediate- and shorter-range missiles (INF) as situations to protect this moratorium have disappeared,” the Russian Foreign Ministry mentioned in a press release.

The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, signed between the united states and the U.S. in 1987, didn’t permit the deployment of missile launchers, ground-launched ballistic missiles, and cruise missiles with a variety of 500 to five,500 km.

The U.S. withdrew from the settlement in 2019.

In a press release, the Russian Foreign Ministry mentioned its repeated warnings on the matter have been ignored and the scenario is shifting towards the precise deployment of U.S.-made intermediate- and shorter-range ground-based missiles in Europe and the Asia-Pacific area.

Because of this, it mentioned, “…The Russian Foreign Ministry has to attest to the disappearance of any situations for the preservation of a unilateral moratorium on the deployment of comparable arms and is authorised to state that the Russian Federation doesn’t take into account itself anymore sure by related self-restrictions authorized earlier.” Earlier, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov mentioned that Russia reserves freedom of motion within the matter of deploying medium- and shorter-range missiles and might use it, if crucial, if it has to reply to NATO’s “aggressive actions” close to the nation’s borders.

The Foreign Office in Moscow mentioned that actions by the West within the sphere of proliferating such missiles create a “direct risk” to Russian safety, requiring sure measures on Moscow’s half.

On Friday (August 1, 2025), Mr. Trump wrote on his Truth Social submit that he had ordered the redeployment of U.S. submarines “to applicable areas” allegedly over “extraordinarily provocative statements” by former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who can also be the deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council.