Russia walks out of ballistic missile treaty with US as Medvedev warns nemesis Donald Trump & Europe ‘expect more'
ROCKET MAN Russia walks out of ballistic missile treaty with US as Medvedev warns nemesis Donald Trump & Europe 'expect more'
DMITRY Medvedev slammed NATO's 'anti-Russian policy' for driving Russia to scrap the Cold War-era moratorium on nuclear missiles.
In his latest online clash with Donald Trump, the ex-Russian president ominously warned the West to 'expect further steps'.
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The Kremlin announced on Monday it was withdrawing from its self-imposed ban on deploying mid- and short-range missiles
Credit: Getty
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Ex-President Dmitry Medvedev said Russia's withdrawal was 'the result of NATO countries' anti-Russian policy'
Credit: AFP
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Footage released by the Russian Defence Ministry on March 2024 purportedly shows the test firing of an ICBM
Credit: AFP
Medvedev's comments came shortly after Russia's Foreign Ministry said the country no longer regarded itself bound by the moratorium on the deployment of short- and medium-range nuclear missiles.
The ex-president wrote on X on Monday: "The Russian Foreign Ministry's statement on the withdrawal of the moratorium on the deployment of medium- and short-range missiles is the result of NATO countries' anti-Russian policy.
"This is a new reality all our opponents will have to reckon with. Expect further steps."
The deputy head of Russia's powerful Security Council did not elaborate on the nature of the "further steps".
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The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty was signed in December 1987 by US President Ronald Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev.
But the US withdrew from the treaty in 2019, accusing Russia of breaking the rules.
Moscow has since said it will not deploy the missiles - with ranges of 311 to 3,418 miles - unless Washington does first.
But Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned last December that Moscow would have to respond to what he called the US and NATO's "destabilising actions".
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The ministry said: "Since the situation is developing towards the actual deployment of U.S.-made land-based medium- and short-range missiles in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region, the Russian Foreign Ministry notes that the conditions for maintaining a unilateral moratorium on the deployment of similar weapons have disappeared."
It comes as Trump said on Friday that he had ordered two nuclear submarines to be positioned to "the appropriate regions".
Russia and China begin war games in Sea of Japan after Trump nuclear threat
Trump and Medvedev have been locked in a war of words after the ex-Russian president accused Trump of 'playing the ultimatum game' over the White House's push to end the war in Ukraine.
Trump first gave Putin 50 days to end the war - but slashed the deadline to just 10 days from July 29 due to a lack of progress on Moscow's part.
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The US president also vowed to impose secondary tariffs on Russia if a ceasefire agreement is not reached by August 8.
Medvedev ominously warned Trump that Russia "isn't Israel or even Iran".
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It comes as Trump ordered two nuclear submarines to be positioned near Russia
Credit: Getty
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A photo taken from video released by the Russian Defence Ministry in August 2024 of a Russian Army Buk-2M missile system targeting Ukraine
Credit: AP
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"Each new ultimatum is a threat and a step towards war," he wrote on a post on X.
Trump blasted Medvedev's comments as 'foolish and inflammatory' before ordering nuclear submarines to be deployed near Russian waters.
"Based on the highly provocative statements of the Former President of Russia, Dmitry Medvedev, who is now the Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, I have ordered two Nuclear Submarines to be positioned in the appropriate regions," Trump wrote on Truth Social.
The US has the world's largest fleet of nuclear-powered submarines, led by the USS Virginia - a 377-foot vessel armed with cruise missiles.
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