MOSCOW, May 9. /TASS/. Russian specialists are pre-emptively planning deployment sites of intermediate- and shorter-range missiles in response to US moves for deploying such weapons, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said on Thursday.

"Undoubtedly, depending on the situation, as was stressed on many occasions, upon the emergence of similar US-made systems in any region of the world, and in this case, we look, first of all, at Europe and the Asia-Pacific region," the senior Russian diplomat said.

"We will carry out our deployment in a way to effectively counter these new threats. Correspondingly, specialists are carrying out preliminary pre-emptive planning," Ryabkov said, commenting on the preparation of potential sites for deploying Russian intermediate- and shorter-range missiles in response to US destabilizing moves.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry said earlier that Moscow reserved the right to a tit-for-tat response to the deployment of US-made ground-based intermediate- and shorter-range missiles in any part of the world, which would signify "the cessation of the unilateral Russian moratorium on deploying such weapons."

The ministry noted that the United States had openly embarked on the path of deploying ground-based systems with intermediate- and shorter-range missiles, which were earlier banned by the corresponding treaty, in various regions.

In response to such US moves, Russia is stepping up the upgrade and starting the production of similar missile systems, the ministry said.