MOSCOW. May 21 (Interfax) - Propaganda surrounding the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty was started on purpose to discredit Russia with baseless allegations, the head of the Russian Defense Ministry's department for control over the implementation of treaties (National Nuclear Threat Reduction Center), Sergei Ryzhkov, said in an article published by the ministry's official newspaper, Krasnaya Zvezda, on Monday.
"A loud propaganda campaign has been launched around the INF Treaty. Baseless and vague allegations about Russia have been made. This is being done on purpose to prevent Russia from giving a substantive response and refuting the allegations. The only objective of this policy is to discredit Russia and present it as a state violating international treaties," Ryzhkov said.
"The United States is using this noise as the cover for its push for collapsing the INF Treaty seriously hindering the implementation of its plans," Ryzhkov said.
"It should be noted that the INF Treaty is crucial to both Russia and Europe. The termination of this treaty will pose a risk of the situation, which existed in the early 1980s: back then nuclear missiles could reach their targets within five or seven minutes, which caused extreme military-political instability on the European continents. It seems the Americans wrongly believe they could not be affected," Ryzhkov said.