On 4 August, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on its official website that it would no longer observe self-limitations based on a unilateral moratorium on the deployment of ground-based medium- and short-range missile systems.
The statement said that given Russia's repeated disregard of warnings and the fact that the situation is evolving towards the actual deployment of US ground-based medium- and short-range missile systems in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region, Russia believes that the conditions for maintaining the unilateral moratorium on the deployment of such weapons no longer exist. Russia will decide on appropriate measures according to the extent of missile deployments in Western countries such as the US and the overall situation of international security and strategic stability.
The Intermediate- and Short-Range Missile Treaty between the Soviet Union and the United States was signed in 1987. The treaty stipulates that the two countries will no longer possess, produce or test cruise missiles, ballistic missiles with a range of 500 kilometres to 5 500 kilometres and their launchers.
Czech 
English 
Spanish 
French 
Italian 
Russian 
Chinese 
German