Putin threatens to restart production of intermediate range nuclear weapons if us

Putin threatens to restart production of intermediate range nuclear weapons if us

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday issued a fresh threat to the US of restarting the production of intermediate-range nuclear weapons to the United States if Washington deployed long-range missiles in Germany.

Putin repeated an earlier warning that Russia could resume production of intermediate and shorter range nuclear-capable missiles and then consider where to deploy them after the United States brought similar missiles to Europe and Asia.

This comes after, US announced deployment of long-range fire capabilities in Germany in 2026 in an effort to demonstrate its commitment to Nato and European defense.

In a speech to mark Russian navy day in the former imperial capital of St Petersburg, Putin warned the United States that it risked triggering a Cold War-style missile crisis with the move.

‘If the United States carries out such plans, we will consider ourselves liberated from the unilateral moratorium previously adopted on the deployment of medium- and short-range strike capabilities,’ Putin said.

‘This situation is reminiscent of the events of the Cold War related to the deployment of American medium–range Pershing missiles in Europe,’ he added.

The Russian president further claimed that Washington is stoking tension by transferring Typhon missile systems to Denmark and the Philippines. He also compared the US pans to the Nato decision to deploy Pershing II launchers in Western Europe in 1979.

‘The flight time to targets on our territory of such missiles, which in the future may be equipped with nuclear warheads, will be about 10 minutes,’ Putin said.

‘We will take mirror measures to deploy, taking into account the actions of the United States, its satellites in Europe and in other regions of the world,’ he added.

The United States' ‘episodic deployments’ are in preparation for longer-term stationing of such capabilities that will include SM-6, Tomahawk cruise missiles and developmental hypersonic weapons that have a longer range than current capabilities in Europe, Washington and Berlin said.