Putin warns US and Germany about missile system

Moscow. The United States and Germany have two years to reconsider their decision to deploy short- and medium-range U.S. missiles on German soil. If they do not, Russia will respond with “symmetrical measures” and, among others, deploy missile systems capable of hitting targets in Europe between 500 and 5,500 kilometers away, the design of which is in the “final phase.”

In short, this is the warning issued on Sunday by President Vladimir Putin in the brief speech he gave at the ceremony to commemorate Russian Navy Day in St. Petersburg, which included the parade of some twenty warships, as well as three foreign vessels: a training ship from Algeria, a destroyer from China and a frigate from India.

Referring to the recent joint statement by Washington and Berlin announcing that they have agreed to deploy high-precision missiles on German territory starting in 2026, Putin warned: “If the United States implements these plans, we will consider ourselves freed from the previously assumed unilateral moratorium on the deployment of short- and medium-range weapons, including the enhancement of the combat capability of our Navy’s coastal forces.”

According to the Russian president, if these US missiles were to be deployed on German soil and could “carry nuclear warheads”, they would take on average “no more than 10 minutes of flight” to reach “important government headquarters and command centres of the armed forces, as well as military infrastructure” in Russia.

For this reason, the Kremlin “will take symmetrical measures and deploy its weapons systems, the design of which is in the final phase, depending on what the United States and its satellites in Europe and other regions of the world do,” Putin stressed, implying that it will install its short- and medium-range missiles wherever it deems most appropriate to strengthen Russia’s national security.

The Soviet Union and the United States agreed in 1987 to destroy their short- and medium-range missiles in Europe, within the range of 500 to 5,500 kilometers, but the treaty ceased to be in force in 2019 amid mutual accusations of non-compliance with its terms.

However, Russia has since made a commitment not to be the first to deploy such weapons, and as Putin reiterated on Sunday, it is up to the United States to continue to deploy them.