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Russian diplomat says US quit INF Treaty to build systems to intimidate China

Sergey Ryabkov said Russia and China, which are in the crosshairs of such systems, view installations with intermediate-and shorter-range missiles as strategic in nature because they can hit targets deep inside their territories

MOSCOW, July 8. /TASS/. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told the International Affairs magazine that Washington needed to withdraw from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty to build systems aimed at intimidating China.

"The reason is clear. It was clear even then, but now it has been revealed with absolute, undeniable clarity that the Americans needed to withdraw from the treaty in order to create these systems to intimidate the People's Republic of China. And it is no coincidence that we have recently had a sharp intensification in the discussion about when and where the Americans could begin to deploy their intermediate-range weapons in the Asia-Pacific region. Well, in Europe as well, but, above all, in the Asia-Pacific region," the diplomat said.

He said Russia and China, which are in the crosshairs of such systems, view installations with intermediate-and shorter-range missiles as strategic in nature because they can hit targets deep inside their territories. According to the deputy minister, if Russia decides to deploy its own intermediate-range missiles, their positions will make them "slightly less effective in terms of impacting key US decision-making centers."

"Although I would like to say again that questions of geography, when examined closely, also give some clues on this matter," the diplomat went on to say.

Ryabkov said the US is again trying to impose a certain behavioral model on Russia and China, which its regards as "strategic rivals that are equal in strength," in order to establish American superiority in this area.

"Let me remind you that the pretext for US withdrawal from the treaty on intermediate-range and shorter-range missiles was our creation of the 9M729 cruise missile, whose tactical and technical characteristics did not go beyond the requirements, that is, beyond our Russian obligations that we had at that time, under the INF Treaty. Our attempts to get the Americans to verify this very statement of ours, our attempts to get the Americans to agree to verify this fact proved fruitless," the diplomat said.