Putin was referring to missiles with a range of 500 to 5,500 kilometres (300-3,400 miles) that were banned under the Cold War-era Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty. Washington withdrew from the deal in 2019, citing Russia's failure to comply. The Kremlin said at the time that it would abide by a moratorium on production if the US did not deploy missiles within striking distance of Russia.
