President Putin: The West is pushing Russia to the 'red line', forcing Moscow to respond

Speaking at a meeting with defense officials in Moscow, President Vladimir Putin said the Russian Federation is watching the US development and possible deployment of short- and medium-range missiles with concern.

According to the leader of the Russian Federation, there is a cause for concern in the US activities in creating and preparing to deploy on the front line land-based high-precision strike systems with a range of up to 5,500 km.

At the same time, the US transferred and deployed these missile systems in Europe as well as the Asia-Pacific region while such actions were prohibited by the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF).

The INF was signed by the US and the Soviet Union in 1987, and took effect in 1988 to limit the development and deployment of land-based missiles in Europe with a range of 500 - 5,500 km, but Washington officially withdrew from the INF on August 2, 2019.

Then, according to Mr. Putin, the Russian side has repeatedly stated that the violation of the INF Treaty will lead to negative consequences for global security, but also emphasized that Moscow will not deploy medium- and short-range missiles until similar US weapons appear in any region of the world.

“If the United States begins to deploy such systems, all our voluntary restrictions will be lifted. In the context of growing geopolitical tensions, we are forced to take additional measures to ensure the security of the Russian Federation and its allies. We do this carefully and prudently, without getting drawn into a full-scale arms race that would harm the country’s socio-economic development,” Putin said.

In short, according to Mr. Putin, the West's tactic is very simple: "push us to the red line, where we can no longer retreat, we start to respond, and then they scare their own people - before it was a threat from the Soviet Union, now it is a threat from the Russian Federation."

“I would like to stress once again that no one should accuse us of threatening with nuclear weapons: this is a policy of nuclear deterrence,” the President of the Russian Federation said, adding that “strategic nuclear forces remain one of the main tools for maintaining stability, protecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Russian Federation.”