“With the termination of the Treaty on the Elimination of Intermediate-Range and Shorter-Range Missiles, the region is faced with the possibility of these strike weapons appearing in its vast territory, and, accordingly, with the prospect of a new round of the arms race,” he said at a meeting of the 16th East Asia Summit held in video conference mode.
As Putin recalled, Russia, realizing the danger of such a development of events, declared a unilateral moratorium on the deployment of such missiles in the APR and other regions of the world, RIA Novosti writes.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov noted that Russia is worried about the US intentions to deploy intermediate and shorter-range missiles in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region.
On September 25, 2019, it was reported that the Russian leader sent a message to a number of countries, including NATO members, which contained a proposal to introduce a moratorium on deployment of the INF Treaty in Europe and other regions.
Later, Putin said that the countries of Europe and the United States have still not responded to Moscow's statements on the condition that Russian intermediate and shorter-range missiles should not be deployed in the regions of the world, "as if they had gone deaf."