Russia suspends participation in mid-range missile treaty

Russia has suspended its involvement in the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) and says it will start developing new missiles.

The announcement comes a day after the United States (US) formally announced that it was suspending its obligations under the agreement.

For months, the US has accused Russia of violating the treaty, which was signed between the two countries in 1987.

It banned the use of short and medium-range missiles by both countries.

However, US authorities say they have evidence that there is a new Russian missile which falls within the 310-3,400 miles range banned by the treaty.

Russia has denied violating the INF accord.

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced, during a meeting with his foreign and defence ministers today, that work would begin on creating new weapons.

These weapons, he said, would include a land-based version of Russia's sea-launched Kalibr cruise missile and new hypersonic weapons which can travel more than five times the speed of sound.

However, Putin has sought to make it clear that Moscow will not get dragged into an expensive arms race and would not deploy short and medium range missiles unless US weapons were deployed first.

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