Russia warns that the missile elements to be installed at Deveselu violate the Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF), urging Romania and the US to realize the "responsibility" of installing these systems and to give it up "before it is too late," Mediafax reports.
The decision to install MK-41 system type ( Aegis, according to NATO terminology) "could become a grave challenge to international security," said, according to Interfax, Mikhail Ulyanov, director of the Department for Non-proliferation and Russian arms control in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
"This step will be another blatant violation by the United States of the Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty," the Russian official accused.
"The United States and Romania need to understand the real extent of this system responsibility and realize that they can give up this plan before it is too late," added Mikhail Ulyanov.
Moscow has often accused that the missile systems to be deployed in Romania and Poland are in breach of the Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty provisions (INF). The Intermediate Nuclear Forces Agreement signed by the US and the USSR in 1987 and entered into force on June 1, 1988, obliges both sides to destroy all ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges between 500 and 5,500 kilometers. In response to the accusations from Moscow, the US presidency announced on several occasions that the American missile defense system which will be located in Romania does not infringe the Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty.