Russia leans even more heavily on nuclear weapons for its territorial defense.
The Russians like nukes. They like to threaten perceived enemies with them. Even tiny Norway.
Russia already violated the INF treaty on limits to less-than-intercontinental nuclear weapons. And now it has officially quit, blaming American plans:
Russia will no longer abide by a defunct treaty prohibiting the deployment of intermediate-range missiles, the country’s Foreign Ministry announced on Monday.
But Washington has accused Moscow of violating the pact for over a decade, and Russia has been known to use missiles with ranges banned by the treaty during its war against Ukraine.
In a statement, the Russian Foreign Ministry said that Moscow “no longer considers itself bound” by its “previously adopted self restrictions” under the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, noting that the United States was moving to deploy intermediate-range missiles in Europe and Asia.
I suspect Russia's withdrawal from the INF treaty is based on China's growing nuclear arsenal. Not everything is about America.
And blaming America and NATO is a convenient Russian excuse to avoid openly recognizing the threat China poses to Russia's territorial integrity. Especially now after immolating Russia's ground forces in Ukraine, nukes are even more vital for Russian defense.
NOTE: TDR Winter War of 2022 coverage continues here.
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NOTE: I made the meme with imgflip.com.
