Russia urges US to destroy anti-missile shield in Romania

Russia’s Defence Ministry said that the United States should destroy the MK-41 anti-missile system in Deveselu, Romania, as well as its strike drones, in order to again follow the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF), according to Reuters.

Russia suspended the INF treaty last weekend after the US announced that it would pull out of the pact in six months unless Russia ended its violations, which Moscow denies.

After announcing that his country would withdraw from the INF, Russian president Vladimir Putin added that Russia would begin work on new missiles and asked his ministers not to negotiate with Washington for disarmament.

Russia condemned NATO for the dismantling of the INF due to the ballistic systems installed in Romania and those planned to be installed in Poland.

“Unfortunately, NATO member states have shown that they are not ready for a substantial dialogue on the issue of the MK-41 missile systems, which are located in Romania and will be located in Poland starting next year in violation of the INF Treaty. These systems are part of NATO’s missile system, so the group is directly responsible of the destruction of the INF Treaty,” said Russia’s Foreign Affairs Ministry on Monday.

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Romanian Foreign Affairs minister Teodor Melescanu reacted to Russia’s demands and said that the Deveselu facility is purely defensive and that accusations that this base could be used to launch nuclear missiles is “a baseless gimmick” used by Russia to justify its construction of missiles that violate the INF treaty and create “a real danger, and not just for Romania”.