Containment of Russia and China is the real objective behind the US withdrawal from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF Treaty), Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said on Monday, TASS reports.
"We are convinced that the real reason behind the US unilateral withdrawal from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty is to contain the People’s Republic of China and the Russian Federation," he told a plenary session of the Xiangshan Forum on security.
According to the minister, "the treaty no longer met the US interests amid growing military and economic power of China, Russia’s restoring defense potential and expansion of military and military-technical cooperation between the two countries."