(.#B.011).- Putin: The US withdrew from the FNI Treaty to t

[Andrei Tchentchik]

(.#B.011).- Putin: The US withdrew from the FNI Treaty to test a new missile, 21-8-2019.
Putin: The US withdrew from the FNI Treaty to test a new missile.
August 21, 2019.

Vladimir Putin reacted to the Pentagon's test of a new missile, saying that the United States left the FNI Treaty to carry out this test and promised a mirror-answer.
Russia will have to give a mirror answer to the new dangers posed by the United States' design of a new missile prohibited by the INF Treaty, Vladimir Putin said Wednesday (August 21st) at a press conference with the Finnish President Sauli Niinistö.
"We absolutely need a dialogue on these issues. For now, we do not have one. We will make appropriate steps in response to this action [the missile test, note], we will give a mirror-answer. [...] We are ready to discuss it with the Europeans, with the Americans, but the security of Russia will be reliably guaranteed, "he said.
Vladimir Putin believes that Washington has withdrawn from the FNI Treaty to test the new missile.
The new US missile
Indeed, the time that elapsed between Washington's withdrawal from the treaty and the missile test proves that the design of the weapon was initiated long before the search for pretexts to leave the agreement, said the Russian President .
"What worries me is the missile test announced by the Pentagon. It's a Tomahawk. It is a sea-based missile that has been adapted to launch from the ground. The launching of these missiles can be done from systems that are already in Romania and can be installed soon in Poland, "he continued.
He pointed out that it was enough to replace the software.
"This means for us the emergence of new dangers that we must respond to," he noted, answering journalists' questions.
Washington and its European partners
The Russian President said he had never heard the Americans say that they did not intend to deploy short and medium-range ground-based missiles in Europe.
"It would be good," he said.
In this context, Vladimir Putin doubts that the United States inform their European partners of the software they are giving their missiles.
Moscow will work on short and medium-range missiles, but will not deploy them in areas free of appropriate US weapons, he said.
"Russia will not install missiles - and we will now develop short and medium range systems - as long as appropriate US-made strike systems do not appear in any part of the world," he said. says the Russian President.
The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty was signed on 8 December 1987 between the Soviet Union and the United States and officially ended on Friday, 2 August, "on the initiative of the United States", had previously announced the Russian Foreign Ministry.
F I N .