Putin threatens to restart production of mid-range nuclear weapons

Putin added that now in Russia

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday (Jul 28) threatened to relaunch production of intermediate-range nuclear weapons if the United States confirmed its intention to deploy missiles to Germany or elsewhere in Europe.

"If the United States carries out such plans, we will consider ourselves liberated from the unilateral moratorium previously adopted on the deployment of medium- and short-range strike capabilities," Putin said during a naval parade in Saint Petersburg.

Putin added that now in Russia "the development of a number of such systems is in the final stages".

"We will take mirror measures in deploying them, taking into account the actions of the US, its satellites in Europe and in other regions of the world," the Russian president warned.

Such missiles, which can travel between 500km and 5,500km, were the subject of an arms control treaty signed by the US and the Soviet Union in 1987.