Russia Continues To Develop Missiles During Moratorium, Not Just Having Orestniks

JAKARTA - Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said the country continued to develop missiles during the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty period, with Moscow having other advanced weapons besides Oreshnik.

"When the moratorium was announced, we asserted that the moratorium was only valid for placement, and did not mention stopping activities (research and development)," RIA news agency quoted Ryabkov as saying in an interview with state television station Rossiya-1.

"So, this time is used to develop the right system and build a fairly large arsenal in this area. As far as I understand, we now have it," Ryabkov was quoted as saying by RIA.

Asked about sophisticated weapons other than Oreshnik, Deputy Foreign Minister Ryabkov said Russia has other advanced weapons.

"Oreshnik, yes, but we have another (gun). We didn't waste time," he was quoted as saying by TASS.

"I can't discuss what I shouldn't discuss, but we have that kind of weapon," he added when asked to provide details.

Earlier this month, Russia said it would lift what it called a unilateral moratorium on the deployment of an INF Treaty medium-range missile, saying it was a forced response to the steps taken by the United States and its allies.

It is known that the INF agreement signed in 1987 by Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and US President Ronald Reagan, abolished the entire class of missile weapons launched from land with a range of 500 to 5,500 kilometers (311 to 3,418 miles).

At that time, the agreement was seen as a sign of easing tensions between the two warring superpowers. But over time, the agreement decomposed as relations worsened.

The United States withdrew from the agreement in 2019 during Donald Trump's first presidency, citing alleged violations Russia denies.

Last November, President Vladimir Putin announced Russia had fired a Russian ballistic missile at Dnipro, hitting Ukraine's military target on Thursday, after the United States and Britain allowed Ukraine to attack Russia with Western weapons.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, in a televised address, said Moscow attacked Ukrainian military facilities with a new medium-range hypersonic ballistic missile known as "Oreshnik", warning more would follow.

"Russia hit a Ukrainian aerospace factory called Yuzhmash with a hypersonic ballistic missile carrying a non-nuclear warhead," President Putin said.

President Putin said the new missile launched by Russia into Ukraine had speeds up to Mach 10, something he considered impossible to intercept by the United States defense system in Europe.

"There is no way to counter the missile at this time," President Putin claims.

"Oreshnik attacks the target at a speed of Mach 10, or 2.5 to 3 kilometers per second," said President Putin.

"The modern air defense system and missile defense systems deployed by America in Europe cannot intercept such missiles. That is impossible," he said.

The Kremlin's leader confirmed the new hypersonic ballistic missile fired in Ukraine this week, Oreshnik, was Russia's innovation, not the modernization of Soviet relics and was soon mass-produced.