One Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin accused US policymakers of being “obsessed with U.S. exceptionalism,” adding that they should “count the speed and the range of the weapons systems we are developing [in Russia].” The threatening statement followed claims by the Russian president that the United States abandoned the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty in order to develop its missile-defense systems.
While Putin, whose approval ratings are at a five-year low, mentioned that his country does not “want confrontation, particularly with such a global power as the United States,” he threatened that “Russia will be forced to create and deploy types of weapons that can be used not only in respect of those territories from which the direct threat to us originates, but also in respect of those territories where the centers of decision-making are located.”
In response to Putin’s speech, the US State Department depicted Putin’s statements as “a continuation of Russia’s propaganda effort to avoid responsibility for Russia’s actions in violation of the INF Treaty.”
Read more: Putin Threatens To Target U.S. With Missiles In State-Of-Nation Speech
