Moscow Cancels Missile Moratorium, Medvedev: NATO State Anti-Russia Policy Results

Dmitry Medvedev. (Wikimedia Commons/men's

JAKARTA - Former President Dmitry Medvedev on Monday blamed the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) countries for Russia's move to cancel the moratorium on short- and medium-range nuclear missiles, saying Moscow would take further steps in response.

Medvedev, who has been involved in scathing arguments on social media with US President Donald Trump, made comments after Russia's Foreign Ministry said Moscow no longer considered itself bound by the moratorium on the deployment of short- and medium-range nuclear missiles.

"The Russian Foreign Ministry's statement regarding the lifting of the moratorium on the deployment of medium and short-range missiles is the result of the anti-Russian policy of NATO countries," Medvedev wrote in English on X.

"This is a new reality that all our opponents must face. Look forward to the next steps," he said.

Medvedev, who now serves as deputy head of Russia's influential Security Council, did not provide further explanation.

The US withdrew from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty in 2019, citing Russia's non-compliance. Moscow later stated it would not deploy such weapons provided Washington did not.

However, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov hinted last December that Moscow should respond to what it calls "destabilization measures" by the US and NATO in the strategic field.

"Due to the evolving situation towards the deployment of US-made medium and short-range missiles in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region, the Russian Foreign Ministry noted that the requirement to maintain a unilateral moratorium on the placement of similar weapons has disappeared," the ministry said in a statement.

It is known, 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).