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US to look for new ways of neutralizing Russian strategic nuclear forces

Consequences of the possible US pullout from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty are taken into account during the planning of the Russian Strategic Nuclear Forces use

MOSCOW, December 17. /TASS/. The United States continues looking for new ways of neutralizing the potential of the Russian Strategic Missile forces, Commander Colonel-General Sergei Karakayev said in an interview with Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper.

"We may assert that in the approximate perspective the United States will not only carry on with its attempts to neutralize the possibilities of the Strategic Missile Forces of Russia, but will continue the search and implementation of additional ways to reach this task," Karakayev said.

He also said that the nuclear potentials of Russia and the United States were reduced by over three times since the signing of the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START 1).

"But at the same time the United States continued to constantly increasing its anti-missile potential, thus violating the existing balance of offensive and defensive weapons in its favor," Karakayev added.

Consequences of the possible US pullout from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty are taken into account during the planning of the Russian Strategic Nuclear Forces use, Strategic Missile Force Commander Colonel-General Sergei Karakayev said in an interview with Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper.

"An impact of consequences caused by the US withdrawal from the INF Treaty, the following deployment of US intermediate missiles in Europe and the ensuing new threats to our security, are undoubtedly taken into account during the planning of the Strategic Missile Force use," Karakayev said.

The INF Treaty was signed in Washington on December 8, 1987, and took effect on June 1, 1988. The INF Treaty eliminated operational and non-operational medium range (1,000-5,500 kilometers) and shorter range (500-1,000 kilometers) ground-launched missiles. By June 1991, the Soviet Union had eliminated 1,846 missiles, while the United States rolled back its arsenal to 846. That said, inspections ended in May 2001.

Back in July 2014, Washington accused Moscow for the first time of violating the INF Treaty. Since then, the US has repeated this claim more than once.

Russia strongly dismissed the accusations and struck back at the US with counterclaims, saying the United States has been blatantly violating the treaty by deploying at its bases in Europe multi-purpose Mk-41 vertical launching systems, which can also be used to launch Tomahawk cruise missiles. Besides, Russian Deputy Defense Minister Col. Gen. Fomin said in mid-August that Washington had made a decision earlier this year to finance a project to build mobile launching systems for land-based cruise missiles with the range of 500-5,500 km, which also fall under the treaty’s limits.

On December 4, US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo said after the meeting of NATO defense ministers that his country would stop honoring its commitments under the treaty, if Russia fails to return to compliance with that accord within 60 days. Russian President Vladimir Putin replied on December 5 that Washington has failed to present any evidence of Russia’s non-compliance. He added that although Moscow would like to have the treaty preserved, it would adequately respond if the US chooses to terminate it unilaterally.