Russia has formally abandoned its self-imposed moratorium on deploying nuclear-capable intermediate-range missiles, raising alarms of a potential new arms race amid escalating tensions with the West over Ukraine. The Russian Foreign Ministry announced the decision on Monday, pointing to U.S. and NATO plans to station Typhoon and Dark Eagle missile systems in Germany starting in 2026 as a key trigger. These actions, the ministry claimed, create “destabilizing missile potentials” near Russia’s borders, posing a direct threat to national security and global stability.

The move follows the collapse of the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty in 2019, after mutual accusations of violations by Washington and Moscow. Russia had maintained a voluntary moratorium on such deployments, contingent on U.S. restraint, but the Foreign Ministry now states that conditions for this restraint no longer exist due to U.S. missile deployments in Europe and the Asia-Pacific, including mobile Mk70 launchers in Denmark and Typhon systems in the Philippines and Australia.

While specific Russian responses remain undisclosed, President Vladimir Putin has signaled plans to deploy the advanced Oreshnik missile, capable of carrying nuclear or conventional warheads, in Belarus later this year. The Oreshnik, with a range covering all of Europe and hypersonic speeds of Mach 10, is touted as uninterceptable and devastatingly powerful. Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, called the moratorium’s end a consequence of NATO’s “anti-Russian policy,” warning of further steps to come.

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The decision has heightened fears of a Cold War-style missile crisis, as intermediate-range missiles (500–5,500 km) reduce reaction times, increasing the risk of nuclear escalation from miscalculations. Russia’s move, coupled with President Trump’s recent order to reposition two U.S. nuclear submarines in response to Medvedev’s provocative rhetoric, underscores the growing volatility in U.S.-Russia relations as Trump’s deadline for a Ukraine peace deal looms.

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