Pentagon tests missile previously banned under Russian-US arms treaty

The Pentagon announced Monday that the army had tested over the weekend a type of missile that had been banned in the last 30 years under a treaty between the United States and Russia.

The test, which took place off the coast of California, marks the resumption of a competition on weapons that, according to some analysts, could increase tensions between the United States and Russia after the two world powers have abandoned a long-standing treaty at the beginning of the month.

The Trump administration says it remains interested in useful arms control, but questions Moscow's willingness to honor its treaty commitments.

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The Pentagon announced Monday that it had tested a modified version of a Tomahawk cruise missile from the Navy, launched on the ground. The ministry said the missile had been launched from the island of San Nicolas and had reached its target accurately after flying over 500 km. The missile was armed with a conventional and non-nuclear warhead.

The Trump administration, which announced on February 2 that it had withdrawn from the Mid-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, had repeatedly announced that Russia was violating its provisions, a charge also brought by President Barack Obama.

"The United States will not remain a party to a treaty purposely violated by Russia," US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in announcing its official withdrawal in early August, calling the Russian missile system banned by the government. agreement of "direct threat to the United States". States and our allies ".

Russia said earlier this month, following the dissolution of the INF Treaty, that it would deploy new medium-range missiles only if the United States did.

Russian President Vladimir Putin condemned the exit of the US treaty "unilaterally and under a wacky pretense," claiming that he "had seriously exacerbated the situation in the world and raised fundamental risks for all."

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He said in a statement that Russia would closely monitor Washington's actions and react in this way if it saw the United States developing and deploying new missiles at intermediate range.

The INF Treaty, signed by US President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, banned the production, testing and deployment of land-based cruise and ballistic missiles with a range of 500 to 5,500 km. These weapons were considered particularly destabilizing because of the shorter time they have to reach their targets against intercontinental ballistic missiles, which increases the likelihood of a nuclear conflict after a false launch alert.

"If we receive reliable information that the United States has completed the development and started the production of the relevant systems, Russia will have to engage in the large-scale development of similar missiles," said Mr. Putin.

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After the release of the INF, a senior Trump administration officer downplayed the importance of the US weapons test, saying that it was not a problem. was not provocative against Russia. The official, who was not allowed to publicly discuss the test flight, said that the United States was in "years" to effectively deploy weapons previously prohibited by the agreement.

Associated Press contributed to this report.