Putin’s masterstroke: Russia uses Trump’s threat as excuse to break 38-year-old deal; what was the deal? What will happen now?

New Delhi: Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February 2022, leading to the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II. This invasion was a major escalation of the conflict between the two countries, which began in 2014. It has claimed thousands of lives on both sides, military as well as civilians.

What was Trump’s promise regarding Russia-Ukraine war?

Joe Biden was the US President when this war started. The current US President, Doland Trump, had said in his candidature manifesto that if he wins, he will stop the Russia-Ukraine war immediately. Trump has failed to deliver on this election promise, and the war rages on, even as he has tried every possible method, including threatening mighty Russia, an adversary since the Cold War (Soviet Union).

What is Russia’s big plan after Trump’s threat?

Amid threats from President Trump, Russia has taken another big decision. It has lifted the ban on the deployment of short and medium-range missiles, which it had imposed earlier.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said on Monday, 4 August, that it no longer considers itself bound by the ban on the deployment of these missiles, as the conditions necessary to maintain this ban do not exist.

What is Russia’s counterattack to Trump’s threat?

Russia has taken this step after the order of US President Doland Trump, in which he asked to deploy two US nuclear submarines on the coast of Russia. After this order of Trump, the tension between Russia and America has increased even more.

This move has broken a 38-year-old agreement.

In 1987, there was an agreement between Russia (Soviet Union) and America that both would not deploy missile launchers, ground-launched ballistic missiles and cruise missiles with a range of 500 to 5,500 km. But America had pulled out of this agreement in 2019.

What did Russia say?

The Russian Foreign Ministry said that its repeated warnings on this matter were ignored. “We had decided that we would deploy such missiles only when America takes some such step. Since America is doing this now, we have also decided to lift the ban on the deployment of missiles.”