HELSINKI, August 21. /TASS/. Moscow is disappointed by the US test launch of a missile that used to be banned under the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF Treaty), while its development had begun long before Washington withdrew from the treaty, Russian President Vladimir Putin told a press conference following the talks with his Finnish counterpart Sauli Niinisto.
"I can say that we are disappointed by what we are seeing. Undeniably, tests of the land-based intermediate-range missile which naturally runs counter to the INF Treaty, exacerbates the security situation in the world as a whole and in Europe in particular," Putin said.
He pointed out that the US had wasted no time in testing the missiles that was previously banned by the INF Treaty. "In this regard, we have every ground to believe that the work on this missile, on its landing because it is a sea missile, began long before they [started] looking for ways out of the treaty," the Russian president said.
According to him, he has not heard that US was not planning to deploy such missiles in Europe, which the Finnish president earlier said at the press conference. "If they said that, it is obviously good," Putin said.