US Violated INF Treaty For Years - Russian Defense Ministry

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 08th February, 2019) The United States has been violating the Russian-US Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty for years and has created conditions for the production of missiles that are prohibited by the arms control agreement, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Thursday.

"We want to stress that the United States has been committing real violations of the INF Treaty provisions and has actually created conditions for the production of missiles banned under the agreement," spokesman for the ministry Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said in a statement.

According to the ministry, Washington has been violating the treaty by deploying ground-based Mk-41 systems capable of launching Tomahawk cruise missiles; by producing target-missiles, whose characteristics are similar to those of short- and intermediate-range ground-based ballistic missiles, and strike aerial drones that fall into category of "ground-based cruise missiles" under the INF Treaty.