Russia had been violating a Cold War-era missile treaty for years — long before both Russia and the US walked away from it this summer. The treaty covered many topics, one of which banned the production of certain missiles. Putin just announced that Russia would begin production, but would not deploy them unless the US did so first.
Below is a list of the missiles banned under the treaty and how far they can reach.
Russian President Vladimir Putin says Russia will produce missiles banned until last month under the now-defunct INF Treaty, but will only deploy such missiles if the U.S. does.https://t.co/41OWJL26RX pic.twitter.com/AbSSMVx4pr
— Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (@RFERL) September 5, 2019
As is visible on the map, even the farthest-reaching missile doesn’t quite cover all of Russia. Putin claims he’s concerned about US talks of potentially deploying missiles in Japan on South Korea.
Time will tell if Putin lives up to his word, or if this is a ploy to distract America while Russia relocates portions of their arsenal.
Copyright 2019, RightWing.org
