The Russian Foreign Ministry announced on Monday that Moscow no longer considers itself bound by its self-imposed restrictions on the non-deployment of intermediate and short-range ground-based missiles.

In an official statement, the ministry stated: "The repeated disregard of Russia's warnings, coupled with the actual deployment of U.S. intermediate-range missiles in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region, has eliminated the conditions that previously justified maintaining this unilateral moratorium on such weapons."

The statement confirmed that "the country's leadership will take specific responsive measures" based on an interagency assessment of threats posed by Western missile deployments and evolving international security dynamics.

The ministry emphasized that "collective Western actions are enhancing missile capabilities near Russia's borders, constituting a direct threat to national security."

Moscow expressed regret over NATO's failure to reciprocate its proposed mutual moratorium on systems previously banned under the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, which collapsed in 2019.

The ministry reiterated that Russia "has no intention of attacking NATO states," citing President Vladimir Putin's remarks accusing Western politicians of "fabricating an imaginary 'Russian threat'" to distract from domestic crises while "frightening their own populations."