INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday threatened to relaunch production of intermediate-range nuclear weapons if the United States
confirmed its intention to deploy missiles to Germany or elsewhere in Europe."If the United States carries out such plans, we will consider
ourselves liberated from the unilateral moratorium previously adopted on the deployment of medium- and short-range strike capabilities,"
Putin said during a naval parade in St
Petersburg.Putin added that now in Russia "the development of a number of such systems is in the final stages.""We will take mirror measures
in deploying them, taking into account the actions of the United States , its satellites in Europe and in other regions of the world," the
Russian president warned.Such missiles, which can travel between 500 and 5,500 kilometers (300-3,400 miles), were the subject of an arms
control treaty signed by the United States and the Soviet Union in 1987.But both Washington and Moscow withdrew from the Intermediate-Range
Nuclear Forces Treaty in 2019, each accusing the other of violations.Russia subsequently said it would not restart production of such
missiles as long as the United States did not deploy missiles abroad.In early July, Washington and Berlin announced that the "episodic
deployments" of long-range United States missiles, including Tomahawk cruise missiles, to Germany would begin in 2026.Putin said that
"important Russian administrative and military sites" would fall within the range of such missiles that "could in the future be equipped
with nuclear warheads, such that our territories would be within around 10 minutes" of a strike being launched.The Russian president also
mentioned that the United States has deployed Typhon mid-range missile systems in Denmark and the Philippines in recent exercises."This
situation reminds us of the events of the Cold War linked to the deployment of American Pershing medium-range missiles in Europe," said
Putin.The United States deployed United States Pershing ballistic missiles in West Germany in the 1980s at the height of the Cold
War.United States missiles continued to be stationed through the reunification of Germany and into the 1990s.But following the end of the
Cold War, the United States significantly reduced the numbers of missiles stationed in Europe as the threat from Moscow receded.The Kremlin
had already warned in mid-July that the proposed United States deployment would mean that European capitals would become a target for
Russian missiles."We are taking steady steps towards the Cold War
All the attributes of the Cold War with the direct confrontation are returning," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a state TV reporter.
