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MOSCOW: Russia has declared that it no longer considers itself bound by a self-imposed moratorium on the deployment of nuclear-capable intermediate range missiles, a warning that potentially sets the stage for a new arms race as tensions between Moscow and Washington rise again over Ukraine.

In a statement Monday, the Russian Foreign Ministry linked the decision to efforts by the US and its allies to develop intermediate range weapons and preparations for their deployment in Europe and other parts of the world. It specifically cited US plans to deploy Typhoon and Dark Eagle missiles in Germany starting next year.

The ministry noted that such actions by the US and its allies create “destabilizing missile potentials” near Russia, creating a “direct threat to the security of our country” and carry “significant harmful consequences for regional and global stability, including a dangerous escalation of tensions between nuclear powers.”

It didn’t say what specific moves the Kremlin might take, but President Vladimir Putin has previously announced that Moscow was planning to deploy its new Oreshnik missiles on the territory of its neighbor and ally Belarus later this year.

“Decisions on specific parameters of response measures will be made by the leadership of the Russian Federation based on an interdepartmental analysis of the scale of deployment of American and other Western land-based intermediate-range missiles, as well as the development of the overall situation in the area of international security and strategic stability,” the Foreign Ministry said.

The Russian statement follows President Donald Trump’s announcement Friday that he’s ordering the repositioning of two US nuclear submarines “based on the highly provocative statements” of Dmitry Medvedev, who was president in 2008-12 to allow Putin, bound by term limits, to later return to the office. Trump’s statement came as his deadline for the Kremlin to reach a peace deal in Ukraine approaches later this week.

Trump said he was alarmed by Medvedev’s attitude. Medvedev, who serves as deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council chaired by Putin, has apparently sought to curry favor with his mentor by making provocative statements and frequently lobbing nuclear threats. Last week. he responded to Trump’s deadline for Russia to accept a peace deal in Ukraine or face sanctions by warning him against “playing the ultimatum game with Russia” and declaring that “each new ultimatum is a threat and a step toward war.”

Medvedev also commented on the Foreign Ministry’s statement, describing Moscow’s withdrawal from the moratorium as “the result of NATO countries’ anti-Russian policy.”

“This is a new reality all our opponents will have to reckon with,” he wrote on X. “Expect further steps.”

Intermediate-range missiles can fly between 500 to 5,500 kilometers (310 to 3,400 miles). Such land-based weapons were banned under the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty. Washington and Moscow abandoned the pact in 2019, accusing each other of violations, but Moscow declared its self-imposed moratorium on their deployment until the US makes such a move.

The collapse of the INF Treaty has stoked fears of a replay of a Cold War-era European missile crisis, when the US and the Soviet Union both deployed intermediate-range missiles on the continent in the 1980s. Such weapons are seen as particularly destabilizing because they take less time to reach targets, compared with intercontinental ballistic missiles, leaving no time for decision-makers and raising the likelihood of a global nuclear conflict over a false launch warning.

Russia’s missile forces chief has declared that the new Oreshnik intermediate range missile, which Russia first used against Ukraine in November, has a range to reach all of Europe. Oreshnik can carry conventional or nuclear warheads.

Putin has praised the Oreshnik’s capabilities, saying its multiple warheads that plunge to a target at speeds up to Mach 10 are immune to being intercepted and are so powerful that the use of several of them in one conventional strike could be as devastating as a nuclear attack.

Putin has warned the West that Moscow could use it against Ukraine’s NATO allies who allowed Kyiv to use their longer-range missiles to strike inside Russia.

BEIJING: A large protest erupted in the southwestern Chinese city of Jiangyou, videos on social media showed, after the beating of a young girl by three other teenagers sparked public outrage.
Protests are rare in China, where any and all opposition to the ruling Communist Party and anything seen as a threat to the civil order is swiftly quashed.
But bullying in the country’s ultra-competitive education system has touched a public nerve, with a high-profile killing last year sparking national debate over how the law deals with juvenile offenders.
On Monday, police said two teenage girls were being sent to a correctional school for assaulting and verbally abusing a 14-year-old girl surnamed Lai.
The beating, which took place last month and left multiple bruises on Lai’s scalp and knees, was filmed by bystanders who shared it online, police said.
The onlookers and a third girl who participated in the abuse were “criticized and educated,” police said, adding that their guardians had been “ordered to exercise strict discipline.”
The case drew outrage online from some lamenting the teenagers’ punishment did not go further.
And later on Monday, people gathered outside the city hall in Jiangyou, in Sichuan province, with large crowds stretching around the block, footage showed.
Video confirmed by AFP to have been taken outside the city hall showed at least two people forcibly pulled aside by a group of blue-shirted and plainclothes police as well as a woman in a black dress dragged away by her limbs.
“They’re sweeping away citizens everywhere,” a person can be heard saying as the woman is dragged away.
More footage taken after dark showed police wearing black SWAT uniforms subduing at least three people at an intersection with hundreds of bystanders.
On Tuesday, the city of Jiangyou was the second top-trending topic on the X-like Weibo, before it and related hashtags were censored.
“The sentence is too light... that is why they were so arrogant,” one top-liked Weibo comment under the police statement read.
On Tuesday, local authorities said on WeChat that police had punished two people for fabricating information about the school bullying case, warning the public against spreading rumors.
Last year Chinese authorities vowed to crack down on school bullying after a high-profile murder case.
In December, a court sentenced a teenage boy to life in prison for murdering his classmate.
The suspects, all aged under 14 at the time of the murder, were accused of bullying a 13-year-old classmate over a long period before killing him in an abandoned greenhouse.
Another boy was given 12 years in prison, while a third whom the court found did not harm the victim was sentenced to correctional education.