Russian President Vladimir Putin has responded to American plans to place new weapons in Germany from 2026. Putin pledged to retaliate by stationing long-range missiles close to Western countries, including some that are banned under the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty.
The US Senate approved the INF treaty in 1987, and President Reagan signed it into law the same year. Under its terms, the US and then-Soviet Union agreed to ban nuclear and conventional missiles with specified ranges. America pulled out in 2019, accusing Russia of breaching the terms—an accusation repeated by NATO but denied by Moscow.
Russia has previously stated that it will not resume manufacturing the named weapons so long as America did not station its stocks overseas, but in early July, the US government said it would commence “episodic” deployment and store long-range missiles in Germany as a show of its commitment to NATO and European defense.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov warned that US-Russia relations are returning to a Cold War footing. In a speech in St. Petersburg, President Putin delivered remarks that also signified a potential arms race and said he considered Moscow “free from our unilateral moratorium on deploying intermediate- and shorter-range strike weapons.”
Russian politicians have also warned of a deterioration in relations between Moscow and Berlin if the American plans go ahead. The Russian Ambassador to Germany, Sergei Nechayev, said the damage would be “irreparable,” but German Chancellor Olaf Scholz remained unmoved and said it would provide a deterrent and ensure peace in the region.
However, Ralf Stegner, a member of the German Parliament and Scholz’s party, disagreed and said, “We are entering a spiral in which the world is becoming increasingly dangerous.”
Others take a similar view, with some commentators suggesting that the move will place Germany in Russia’s sights and risks bringing war to the nation.
White House Confirmation
Meanwhile, The White House confirmed the probability that it will keep the missiles in Germany permanently and stated that the weapons in question would “have significantly longer range” than any other systems presently in Europe.
