President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that Russia will resume the production of short and medium-range missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads, due to what he described as moves by the United States to deploy such missiles in both Europe and Asia.

The United States formally withdrew from the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty with Russia in 2019, accusing Moscow of violating the agreement, a charge the Kremlin denied.

Subsequently, Russia imposed a moratorium on its own missile development, which had previously been banned under the INF Treaty.

“It is known that the United States not only produces these missile systems but is already transporting them to Europe for exercises in Denmark,” Putin said at a meeting of the Russian Security Council. “Recently, it was announced that these missile systems are in the Philippines. It is not known whether they took the missiles from there or not.”

Putin stated that Russia was forced to respond.

“Obviously, we need to start producing these strike systems and then, based on the real situation, make decisions about where – if necessary to ensure our security – we should deploy them,” Putin said.