Russia on Monday made a formal declaration that it considers itself no longer bound by the terms of the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty with the United States.

The statement said the restrictions have "disappeared" and Russia "no longer considers itself bound" by it, according a Russian Foreign Ministry statement. The agreement banned ground-launched missiles with ranges of 500–5,500km.

However, this new declaration is largely symbolic anyway, given the INF Treaty already collapsed in 2019 when the US unilaterally withdrew while complaining of violations by Moscow. Also, Russia's military has for years been using all kinds of missiles in Ukraine, including hypersonic weapons.

But Moscow all along said it was biding by the treaty's terms, having imposed a self-moratorium. But this is no more...

"The Russian Foreign Ministry notes the disappearance of conditions for maintaining the unilateral moratorium on the deployment of similar weapons and is authorized to state that Russia no longer considers itself bound by the corresponding self-imposed restrictions previously adopted," the statement reads.

Last week President Trump ordered two nuclear submarines to deploy "closer to Russia" - citing threatening nuclear rhetoric of former Russian president Dimitry Medvedev.

The "actions of Western countries" are creating a "direct threat" to Russian security, the ministry statement said. A few specifics instances of the US already in effect violating the treaty were highlighted: 

Russian officials have long warned of an arms race being set off, harming global stability and security, if the US were to withdraw; but it fell on deaf ears and there's merely one landmark treaty left between the superpowers: New START, which regulates nuclear weapons, and has to be renewed.

President Trump has recently expressed hope that New START treaty can be renegotiated and extended. At the moment, both sides seem open to this, and talks could start soon.

Amid all the latest nuclear-related rhetoric, more arrows from Medvedev...