New arms race is on the way

President Vladimir Putin has said that Russia would be forced to target any European countries that agreed to host US nuclear missiles following Washington's withdrawal from a landmark Cold war-era arms control treaty.

Speaking at a news conference after holding talks with Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, Putin said he wanted to discuss what he called dangerous US plans to leave the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty with US President Donald Trump.

The two leaders are expected to hold talks in Paris on Nov 11.

Putin said he feared the world might be about to slip into an arms race, saying the fate of another US-Russian arms control treaty - the new START pact - which governs strategic nuclear missile launchers and is due to expire in 2021, was also unclear.

"If all this is dismantled, then nothing will be left when it comes to limiting the increase in arms," said Putin. "And then the situation will be, in my view, extremely dangerous. All that will be left is an arms race."

Russia has called Trump's decision to quit the 1987 treaty, which eliminated both countries' land-based short- and intermediate-range ballistic missiles from Europe, dangerous. Trump has accused Russia of violating the treaty, something Moscow denies. It says Washington is the one violating it.

US National Security Advisor John Bolton told Putin on Tuesday that Washington would press ahead with plans to quit the pact despite objections from Russia and some European countries.

Putin told reporters on Wednesday that Russia would have to respond in kind and would do so swiftly if the United States quit the pact.

"If the United States does withdraw from the INF treaty, the main question is what they will do with these (intermediate-range) missiles that will once again appear.

"If they will deliver them to Europe, naturally our response will have to mirror this, and European countries that agree to host them, if things go that far, must understand that they are putting their own territory at risk of a possible counter-strike."

Putin said he did not understand why it was necessary to put Europe in such danger, saying it was a situation that Russia itself wanted to avoid if possible.

Amid the tensions, Nato yesterday began its largest military exercises since the end of the Cold War in Norway. Some 50,000 soldiers, 10,000 vehicles, 65 ships and 250 aircraft from 31 countries were taking part in Trident Juncture 18, which is aimed at training the Atlantic Alliance to defend a member state after an aggression.

The Russian embassy in Oslo said it considered Trident Juncture an "anti-Russian" exercise.