MOSCOW, December 14. /TASS/. The United States withdrew from the Antiballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty 20 years ago to have a free hand but failed to develop a safe shield against the countries possessing nuclear weapons, Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev said on Tuesday.

According to Medvedev, the United States’ vague explanations about the reasons for its withdrawal from the treaty were actually meant to hide its plans "to have a free hand to develop an advanced system of national missile defense."

"This is lame, if not to say erroneous, logic. Russia has always had enough possibilities to protect its national security in case of such steps by Washington. The Americans still have no reliable shield against other countries, which possess nuclear weapons, including the ones they sought to make outcasts of through sanctions," he wrote on his accounts in social networks.