Russia threatens to deploy hypersonic missiles to its borders
The United States did not give a constructive response to the basic elements of the draft agreement on security guarantees. Because of this, Russia will be forced to take "military-technical measures", said the Russian Foreign Ministry.
According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, almost all Moscow’s key demands, put forward in December, were ignored.
The Kremlin’s letter said the US did not provide a response to their demands: "It's about giving up the further expansion of NATO, about the withdrawal of the ‘Bucharest formula’, whereby ‘Ukraine and Georgia will become members of NATO, and the refusal to create military bases on the territory of states formerly part of the USSR and non-members of the NATO alliance, including the use of their infrastructure to conduct any military activity, and the return of NATO military capabilities, including strike capabilities, and infrastructure to the 1997 status, when the NATO-Russia Founding Act was signed. These stipulations are of fundamental importance to the Russian Federation.”
The only point on which it was possible to find common grounds is the settlement of claims under the already abolished treaty on intermediate-range and shorter-range missiles, the Kremlin said. In particular, Moscow is ready to "accept for review" a proposal to inspect missile defense systems in Poland and Romania.
However, the Russian Foreign Ministry emphasizes that the United States ignored the "package nature" of the Russian proposals, deliberately "chose "convenient" topics" and "twisted" them in its favor.
"Ultimatum demands to withdraw troops from certain areas in Russian territory, accompanied by threats of tougher sanctions, are unacceptable and undermine the prospects for reaching real agreements," the Foreign Ministry wrote, referring to 150,000 Russian troops deployed near the borders of Ukraine.
"Because there is no readiness by the American side and its allies to agree on firm, legally binding security guarantees, Russia will be forced to respond, including through the implementation of military-technical measures," the document reads.
The Russian Foreign Ministry did not specify what measures these could be.
Financial Times reports, citing sources close to the Kremlin, that it could be the deployment of hypersonic missiles on Russia’s borders. “So, we're "going to show them we're serious," one of the sources explained.
Putin said last October that Russia had achieved superiority over the United States in creating hypersonic weapons.
"Our systems fly at speeds of over Mach 20," Putin boasted at the plenary session of the Russian Energy Week. - It's not just a hypersonic missile, it's an intercontinental missile. And they are on combat duty already in Russia."
"I draw your attention to the fact that we, having such systems and for the first time in history even overtaking our main competitors - in this case, the United States - in high-tech weapons systems, we do not abuse this, do not threaten anyone," Putin said.