Russia has declared it will no longer observe self-imposed restrictions on deploying medium- and short-range missiles, ending a moratorium introduced after the collapse of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty with the United States.

The decision comes as both the US and Russia have started to rattle their nuclear sabres. US President Donald Trump said last week that he had moved two nuclear-enabled submarines to an “appropriate place” in a significant escalation of tensions. That provoked a harsh response from the deputy head of Russia’s security council Dmitry Medvedev, who said Russia was prepared to strike the US with nuclear weapons if provoked.

The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on August 4 it had adopted “unilateral self-restraints” on such ground-based weapons following its withdrawal from the Cold War-era accord. “However, it must be stated that Russian initiatives have not met reciprocity,” the ministry said, citing examples of alleged violations by other countries.

The new announcement comes after Russian President Vladimir Putin upgraded Russia’s nuclear weapons policy last November, giving the Kremlin to make a first strike decision should Russia face an ill-defined “existential threat.”

Now the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has taken another step to undermine that security agreements were in place by allowing it to move missiles into forward positions, including placing Russia’s newest ICBM, the Oreshnik missiles in Belarus, which can hit any European capital within 20 minutes.

“The conditions for keeping the one-sided moratorium on deploying similar weapons are gone and the Russian Federation no longer feels tied to the self-imposed restrictions it agreed to before,” the ministry said.

The INF Treaty, signed in 1987, prohibited the US and the Soviet Union from possessing or testing ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges between 500km and 5,500km. Washington and Moscow withdrew from the treaty in August 2019 after accusing each other of non-compliance, but the Kremlin has been adhering to the terms unilaterally in the meantime.

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev escalated the rhetoric on Monday, blaming Nato members for the decision to abandon the moratorium. “The Russian Foreign Ministry’s statement on the withdrawal of the moratorium on the deployment of medium- and short-range missiles is the result of Nato countries’ anti-Russian policy,” he wrote in English on X.

“This is a new reality all our opponents will have to reckon with. Expect further steps,” said Medvedev, who is also a former president and prime minister. He did not specify what measures Moscow might take.

The Russian announcement marks a further deterioration in arms control arrangements between the world’s largest nuclear powers, coming amid heightened tensions over the war in Ukraine and Nato’s military posture in Eastern Europe.