Deployment of US Mk-41 missile-defense systems in Romania, Poland contradicts INF Treaty – Russia

The US has started deploying Aegis Ashore missile-defense systems, as well as Mk-41 Vertical Launching Systems tubes that could be used to launch intermediate-range cruise missiles in Europe in June, the Russian Foreign Ministry has said. The deployment of the US Mk-41 launching systems in Romania and Poland contradicts the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, according to Vladimir Yermakov, the head of the ministry’s Department for Nonproliferation and Arms Control. “There are also serious questions regarding the actions of our American colleagues that are contrary to the INF Treaty, including the ground-based deployment of universal Mk-41 launchers in Romania and Poland,” Sputnik quoted Yermakov as saying during a general debate in the First Committee of the UN General Assembly.