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NATO claims US combat UAVs, ballistic defense target missiles ‘not in violation’ of INF

"Russia continues to raise this issue to deflect tension from the real problem," posed by new Russian missiles, , NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg believes

© AP Photo/Kirsty Wiggleswort

BRUSSELS, January 25. /TASS/. NATO believes that US strike drones and target missiles for ballistic defense do not violate the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Friday.

"These issues have been discussed for several years, the question of UAVs, ballistic and target missiles, which are used to test ballistic defense. These systems are not in violation of the INF treaty," the NATO chief said, responding to a question from TASS at a press conference on the results of the Russia-NATO Council session in Brussels.

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NATO sees no signs of breakthrough on INF Treaty, says chief

As Stoltenberg asserted, "Russia continues to raise this issue to deflect tension from the real problem," posed by new Russian missiles as he believed.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov earlier stated that Washington interprets the treaty’s obligations quite freely "when it hinders the creation of armaments important to them."

This concerns the use of target missiles (Hera, LRALT and MRT) during missile shield weapons tests, as their characteristics are similar to the capabilities of intermediate and shorter-range missiles, which the United States classifies as ‘surface-to-air’ missiles permitted by the treaty. In contrast, Russian specialists believe that development of technologies for the production and use of missiles with a banned range of capabilities are being tested under the guise of these launches.

In October 2018, Russian President Vladimir Putin noted that the use of strike drones by the US was a direct breach of the INF accord because they actually did not differ in any way from intermediate-and shorter-range missiles.

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