MOSCOW. May 27 (Interfax) - Russia has grounds to assume that, under the guise of testing missile defense components, the United States is in fact testing the use of intermediate-range and shorter-range missiles, a high-ranking Russian Defense Ministry official said.
"A lot of questions have arisen in the context of the U.S.' using target missiles similar in their parameters to intermediate-range and shorter-range missiles in testing their missile defenses," Russian Defense Ministry international military cooperation directorate deputy head Yevgeny Ilyin said at parliamentary hearings at the Federation Council.
"There are reasons to presume that, under the guise of testing missile defense components, the U.S. is testing the use of intermediate-range and shorter-range missiles banned by the [Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces] Treaty," he said.