Putin calls for production to resume in Russia of intermediate-range missiles

Russian President Vladimir Putin (Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP, File)

Russian President Vladimir Putin has called for resuming production in Russia of intermediate-range missiles that were banned under a now-scrapped treaty with the United States.

The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty, which banned ground-based missiles with a range of 500-5,500 kilometres (310-3,410 miles), was regarded as an arms control landmark when then-Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and US president Ronald Reagan signed it in the 1980s.