Moscow says it is no longer bound by a self-imposed limit on deploying intermediate-range missiles, blaming NATO and warning of "further steps."
Russia’s Foreign Ministry announced on Monday it is no longer bound by a unilateral moratorium on deploying short- and medium-range missiles. The move, blamed on NATO’s “anti-Russian policy,” was amplified by former President Dmitry Medvedev, who warned of unspecified “further steps.” This escalates nuclear tensions with the West as the war in Ukraine continues.
The Kremlin justified its decision by citing the "actual deployment of US-made land-based medium- and short-range missiles in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region." In a sharply worded post on X, Dmitry Medvedev, deputy head of Russia’s Security Council, declared, "This is a new reality all our opponents will have to reckon with. Expect further steps." This follows Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s recent statement that the moratorium was “practically no longer viable.”
The announcement significantly raises the stakes in the ongoing standoff between Russia and the West. It drew a response from former U.S. President Donald Trump, who said he had ordered two nuclear submarines to be repositioned. In a more measured tone, the Kremlin downplayed the exchange, with spokesman Dmitry Peskov stating, “we would not want to get involved in such a controversy,” and adding that “everyone should be very, very careful with nuclear rhetoric.”
The decision officially ends Russia's adherence to a policy it adopted after the United States withdrew from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty in 2019. Moscow had pledged it would not deploy such weapons—which include ground-launched missiles with a range of 500 to 5,500km (311 to 3,418 miles)—provided Washington did not do so first.
The original INF treaty, signed in 1987 by U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, was a landmark Cold War arms control agreement that eliminated an entire class of nuclear weapons from Europe. The U.S. withdrew in 2019 under the Trump administration, citing alleged Russian violations of the pact. Russia’s abandonment of its subsequent self-imposed moratorium effectively dissolves the last remnants of the treaty's constraints.
This move comes at a highly delicate moment, with tensions already high over the war in Ukraine and a looming deadline from Trump for a ceasefire. Russia's declaration signals it is prepared to enter a new phase of strategic competition, potentially triggering a new arms race in Europe and Asia. The world now watches for what Medvedev’s threatened “further steps” will entail, as a key pillar of post-Cold War nuclear stability has been formally removed.
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