MOSCOW. March 14 (Interfax) - The reported intention of the United States to test missiles formerly outlawed by the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty is a logical result of the Treaty's dismantlement, according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
"It was the United States, not Russia that breached provisions of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. It was the United States that included the research and development of such missiles in its budget in advance. Naturally, research and development is more often than not unable to proceed without testing. So, this is a logical development of the situation I have just told you about," Peskov told the press on Thursday.
Journalists asked Peskov to comment on media reports which said that the Pentagon was planning to test missiles prohibited by the INF Treaty.
Russia "categorically rejects" any claims made against it in regard to the INF Treaty, Peskov said.
"Instead, we have demonstrated to everyone with arguments and evidence that the treaty has been undermined by the United States, which violated it by actually using a number of systems that disagreed with [the treaty's] provisions," he said.