Russian Foreign Ministry accuses NATO of supplying weapons banned by the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons to Asia

NATO is supplying strike weapons to Asia, which are prohibited by the treaty on the elimination of intermediate-range and shorter-range missiles (INF Treaty). Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko said on November 24.

"Started in 2017 in the first presidential cadence of Donald Trump, the confrontational project of dual deterrence of Russia and China was further developed under US President Joe Biden. The same can be said about the globalization of NATO's mandate," TASS quoted him as saying.

Rudenko specified that this vector of development has led to "a sharp surge in the militarization of Asia." NATO is "pumping" Asia with weapons banned under the MRMD. He also noted the instability of the new US administration's plans and emphasized the "long-term line" Washington is trying to create in Asia.

Earlier in the day, Rudenko reported that the US is using Taiwan to foment conflict in Asia in order to realize its interests. According to him, Washington is "escalating the situation" in the region.

The escalation of the conflict between China and Taiwan occurred after a visit to the island by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in August 2022. The Chinese side considers Taiwan to be its own territory, so it views visits to the island by officials from other countries as support for Taiwan's independence.

Official relations between the PRC government and its island province broke down in 1949 when the Kuomintang forces led by Chiang Kai-shek, who lost in a civil war with the Communist Party of China, moved to Taiwan. Contacts between the island and mainland China resumed in the late 1980s. The U.S. openly supports the Taiwanese authorities.