Vladimir Putin announced that Russia would begin producing short- and medium-range missiles.
Production of these missiles was previously banned under a treaty with the United States.
We explain to you what these weapons are.
Follow the full coverage
More than two years of war in Ukraine
Vladimir Putin threatens again. This Friday, June 28, the Russian leader declared that his country would begin producing short and medium range missiles. The production of these weapons was previously prohibited by the INF Treaty, the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, which Russia had concluded with the United States. But what do these devices correspond to? We’ll explain it to you.
The return of a certain category of nuclear weapons
Under the terms of the treaty from which the United States withdrew in 2019, both Russia and the United States could neither possess nor produce ground-launched ballistic or cruise missiles with a range of between 500 and 5,500 kilometers. “These are land-based weapons, meaning that aerial weapons, fired from planes or weapons fired from submarines, are by definition not affected.”Aurélien Duchêne, geopolitical and defense consultant, told LCI.
Vladimir Putin’s announcement therefore concerns short-range missiles, i.e. a range of between 500 and 1000 kilometers. According to the INF Treaty, this is “cruise missile”, therefore denoting a self-propelled unmanned vector which is maintained in flight by upward aerodynamic thrust over most of its trajectory. At the same time, medium-range, or intermediate-range, missiles refer to missiles with a range between 1000 and 5500 kilometers. The term “ballistic missile” designates a missile whose trajectory is mainly ballistic.
-
Read also
VIDEO – Missile attacks in Crimea: images of panic on a beach
Concluded in 1987, the INF Treaty aimed to eliminate an entire category of nuclear weapons which then threatened Europe. With his announcement, Vladimir Putin seems to mean that missiles capable of carrying nuclear weapons could be installed again. “Suddenly, President Putin is starting to talk about nuclear power again with new weapons. But in passing, between the speech and the realization of things, it will take a few years”nevertheless specifies to LCI General Dominique Trinquand, former head of the French military mission to the UN, adding despite everything : “It’s a speech that shows a certain aggressiveness.”
