Russia no longer bound by self-imposed freeze on intermediate-range missiles

The Hill reports that “Russia announced Monday it will no longer be bound by a self-imposed restriction on the deployment of short- and medium-range nuclear missiles, pointing to efforts by the U.S. and its allies to develop and deploy similar weapons systems in Europe and Asia”.

“Russia self-imposed the moratorium after the U.S. backed out of the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) in 2019, accusing Moscow of breaching the agreement, which barred both military powers from deploying intermediate-range missiles that have a range of between 310 miles to 3,400 miles”, The Hill writes.

The Russian announcement came just days after President Trump said the U.S. military was moving two nuclear submarines closer to Russia.

Russia answered with moving nuclear bombers closer to Europe.

The Hill would understand that Russia’s lifting of the self-imposed moratorium, long time after the US’ withdrawal from the Intermediate Nuclear Range Treaty INF, is due to the ongoing build-up of US-made ground-launched INF-range missiles in Europe and the Asia-Pacific.

Indeed, the US just recently established INF Typhon missiles in the Philippines which are considered to target China. This was a secret mission and only China became aware of it after the launchers were positioned.

Further, Germany is seeking to acquire Typhon missile launchers which can launch also Tomahawk missiles. German officials consider the potential Typhon buy as a gap-filler for an eventual European program, dubbed ELSA, that would fulfill the continent’s mid- and long-range strike needs and as a means to bolster the country’s deterrence posture vis-à-vis Russia.

What the German government did not mention is that those missiles launched from Typhons could carry nuclear warheads to Moscow. Such nuclear strikes could become decapitation strikes which were mentioned by Dmitry Medvedev in his aggressive X exchange with Trump – Medvedev mentioned to Trump the existence of the “Dead Hand Mechanism”, an automated reaction to a decapitation strike launching all nuclear arms and missiles from Russia to the US and Europe without human interference.

Considering the most recent moves of the US submarines and the Russian bombers, and considering the US positioning INF missiles in the Phillipines and Germany as a threat to China and Russia, the nuclear arms race suddenly is moving with full steam ahead.

It is time that those who push war in Ukraine learn their lesson where things move. In particular, Germany for long dismissed the nuclear threat resulting from them pushing the war in Ukraine as non-realistic. Germany understands now clearly the risk they created.