Russia conducts ballistic missile test

By Elena Teslova

MOSCOW (AA) - Russia on Tuesday conducted a short-range ballistic missile test.

The Defense Ministry said drone footage showed the test target was destroyed successfully.

The exercise is being seen as a retaliatory response to a cruise missile test by the U.S. last week.

Last month, the U.S. formally withdrew from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty following a months-long war of words between Moscow and Washington.

The treaty was signed in 1987 by then-Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and U.S. President Ronald Reagan, reducing the chances of a nuclear war in Europe.

Under the treaty, both sides destroyed the whole class of intermediate- and short-range missiles in a span of four years.

International observers fear a fresh arms race in the absence of this landmark treaty.