The United States again accused Russia through the Treaty on Intermediate-Range and Shorter-Range Missiles. At this time, our country was “guilty” of replacing the 9M729 cruise missile of the Iskander-M complex.
According to a report by the CIA and the National Agency for Geospatial Intelligence, at a briefing on January 23, the Russian Defense Ministry issued another product for 9M729. According to intelligence data, the transport and launch container of the rocket demonstrated was smaller than the one needed for 9M729 launches. Also at the briefing was shown the launcher, which is not used for this rocket.
It is noteworthy that representatives of the United States and a number of Western countries did not attend the demonstrations and press conferences.
Recall, the Russian cruise missile 9M729 was the reason for the United States to exit the INF Treaty. According to the CIA, Moscow conducted six missile tests, and its flight range exceeded the norms allowed by the INF. In particular, during the longest test, the rocket flew 2,070 kilometers.
In turn, the United States assesses the SSC-8 as a road-mobile version of the Caliber, a sea-based cruise missile with a range of 2,000 km and armed with a conventional payload and a range of 2,350 km in the nuclear version.
The INF Treaty does not allow the parties to have ground-based ballistic missiles and cruise missiles with a range from 500 to 5.5 thousand kilometers. Moscow and Washington regularly accuse each other of violating its conditions.
