The US will begin deploying long-range strike missiles such as the SM-6 and Tomahawk in Germany in further evidence that the security architecture has collapsed and Europe is preparing intensively for war with Russia.
At the same time, NATO also announced yesterday that a new US anti-aircraft base in northern Poland, designed to detect and intercept ballistic missile attacks as part of a wider NATO missile shield, is on standby.
The new cruise missiles will have a range of 2,500 kilometers.
Missiles with ranges of more than 500 kilometers were banned until 2019 under the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty signed by the Soviet Union's Mikhail Gorbachev and former US President Ronald Reagan in 1987.
The US withdrew from the INF Treaty in 2019, saying Moscow was violating the agreement, citing Russia's development of the 9M729 cruise missile, known to NATO as the SSC-8.
In late June, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow should resume production of medium- and shorter-range missiles after the US brought similar missiles to Denmark for exercises and the Philippines.
The US is to install new conventional and cruise missiles in Germany to fill the gap in Russia's deterrence capabilities, the two NATO allies have decided.
The American and German sides, with a joint announcement from the sidelines of the NATO Summit in Washington, clarify that initially it will be a temporary installation, but the goal is for the missiles to be permanently installed in Germany in the future.
As noted in the announcement, in the future, ultrasonic weapons, which are currently under development, will also be transferred to Germany.
"The exercise with these advanced capabilities will demonstrate the United States' commitment to NATO and its contribution to comprehensive deterrence in Europe," the two countries said.
According to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, these capabilities concern weapon systems covering ranges of 240 to 460 km, but even ranges of 1,300 to 2,500 km for Tomahawk missiles
Meanwhile, France, Germany, Italy and Poland signed a letter of intent today to develop cruise missiles with a range of more than 500 kilometers to fill the gap in Europe's arsenal that they say was exposed by the war of of Russia in Ukraine.
Speaking on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Washington after the signing ceremony, French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecourny said the new missile would be a deterrent. He also hinted that Britain could join the group of partner countries.
Russia on US long-range weapons in Germany: 'Serious threat, we will respond'
Russia will respond to a planned US deployment of long-range missiles in Germany, the Kremlin said today, as it views NATO's military actions as a serious threat to Russia's national security.
Asked at a briefing with Russian news agencies about the outcome of the NATO summit, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said:
"The North Atlantic alliance clearly confirmed its essence once again. It is an alliance created in a time of confrontation with the aim of maintaining the confrontation."
"Tensions on the European continent are escalating" as a result, he added, saying the Kremlin is watching NATO military infrastructure move closer.
"We see the decisions that NATO has made to create separate logistics hubs in Black Sea cities, the creation of additional facilities in Europe, and we see that in fact NATO's military infrastructure is constantly and gradually moving in the direction of our borders," he said. Peskov.
"This obliges us to analyze in depth the decisions taken in the discussion that took place.
This is a very serious threat to our country's national security. All of this will require us to take calculated, coordinated and effective responses to deter NATO, to counter NATO."
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Moscow had anticipated the US-German missile move, which he described as designed to intimidate Russia and further destabilize regional security and strategic relations.
"The necessary work on the preparation of countermeasures by the relevant Russian state agencies began much earlier and is being carried out on a systematic basis ," Ryabkov said in a statement posted on his ministry's website.
"Without nerves, without emotions, we will develop a military response, first of all, to this new game," Ryabkov was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency.
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