Russian and US officials both accused each other of provoking the escalation yesterday as arms control experts warned that the deployments of missiles on the European continent after the collapse of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty could fuel a new arms race.
The decision to station nonnuclear Tomahawk cruise, SM-6 and hypersonic missiles in Germany from 2026 was welcomed by the chancellor, Olaf Scholz, who said it "fitted exactly" into his government's security strategy, even as the move attracted fierce criticism amid fears it would make Germany more vulnerable to attack.
Scholz said the decision had been long in the making and would come as "no surprise" to anyone who was knowledgeable about security and peace policies.
But Moscow did not see it that way.
Russia's deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov issued a stark warning to Berlin, insisting Moscow would respond militarily to the decision, which aimed to weaken Russian security and could not go unanswered.
He said Nato was now "fully involved in the conflict" and called the move "just another link in the chain of a course of escalation".
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