MOSCOW. Oct 18 (Interfax) - Russia will design weapons that would have been banned by the now-defunct Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty in response to missile tests conducted by the United States, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an interview with Interfax.
"At the very beginning, when the Americans officially launched the denunciation procedure for the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, President of Russia [Vladimir] Putin said that our steps would be symmetrical. If the Americans suspend their participation in this treaty, we will do the same. If they denounce it, nothing will depend on us in this case," Lavrov said.
"If, after denouncing [the INF Treaty], they will develop relevant weapons, we will do the same. But when and if we create such weapons- given that the Americans have already tested a cruise missile that would have been prohibited by the INF Treaty, and we will also create them - we will not deploy them in any region of the world until relevant American-produced systems appear in this or that part of the globe," the Russian minister said.
"It is not just a statement," he said.
"We then turned it into a proposal that was put forth to the Americans and NATO members to adopt a bilateral reciprocal and mutual moratorium on the placement of such weapons anywhere, including Europe and Asia. But there was no reply," Lavrov said.
As regards Asia, "the American military publicly says that they will be preparing for the deployment of these weapons in the Asian region," he said.
"Russian President Putin commented on that not so long ago. He said we understand what the main target of these plans is. But the Americans plan to deploy these weapons in the immediate proximity of our borders. Therefore, we will bear that in mind as well. I'd like to repeat once again that we have not heard any answer to our suggestion to declare such a moratorium by both sides. But this proposal of ours is still on the table," he said.