Foreign Minister Lavrov Says Russia Never Had Ground-Based Short And Medium-Range Missiles

Menlu Russia Sergei Lavrov. (Wikimedia Commons/Kremlin.ru/Press Service of the President of the Russian Federation)

JAKARTA - Russia does not and does not have land-based short- and medium-range missiles, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday.

"I want to emphasize that Russia has never had and will never have land-based short- and medium-range missiles", he said in a video speech at the Disarmament Conference in Geneva, Switzerland, as quoted from TASS on March. 2

"To say otherwise is to paint the wrong picture, to justify those who are to blame for the damage to the INF Treaty", he continued, referring to the arms control, ballistic missile, and land-based cruise missile agreements with a range of 500-1,000 kilometers and 1,000-5,500 kilometers between the United States. and the Soviet Union (Russia) signed December 8, 1987.

Minister Lavrov reminded, to ensure predictability and controllability in the missile field in the absence of the INF Treaty, Russia has unilaterally promised not to be the first to deploy systems included in the agreement, in areas where similar US-made systems are not deployed.

"We call on the United States and its allies to follow in our footsteps", added Foreign Minister Lavrov.

As previously reported, four people were killed when houses in the Ukrainian city of Zhytomyr were hit by a Russian cruise missile apparently aimed at a nearby airbase Tuesday, Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to Ukraine's Interior Minister, said on his Telegram channel.

He said the residential building located near the base of the 95th Airborne Brigade in Zhytomyr, 120 km (75 miles) west of the capital Kyiv, had been set on fire,

"So far, four people have died. Including a child", he said, reported Reuters.

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense said a total of 16 high-precision missiles had been fired on Monday, between 7:07 p.m. and 7:51 p.m. (17:07 GMT and 17:51 GMT), in the Kharkiv Settlement area from strategic bombers flying over Russia's Belgorod region.

"Tall buildings, schools, kindergartens, and other urban infrastructure were destroyed", the ministry said on its Facebook page.

"According to preliminary data, dozens of Kharkiv residents, including children, died as a result of this airstrike", he added.