Some say that the Cold War never ended, some say that it is starting again. Either way, trouble is brewing between the US and Russia as in response to the US withdrawal from the INF treaty, Russia has announced she will build a new missile system that will be operational by 2021 according to a report:

So now the race is on — a dangerous new Cold War style arms race between Russia and the United States that is. Reuters has issued an alarming report which highlights “Russia will race to develop two new land-based missile launch systems before 2021 to respond to Washington’s planned exit from a landmark nuclear arms control pact, it said on Tuesday.”

The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) effectively collapsed over the weekend following the US announcing Friday that it’s suspending all obligations under the treaty. Predictably Moscow’s response was swift with President Vladimir Putin saying in a Saturday meeting with his foreign and defense ministers that Russia will now pursue missile development previously banned under its terms.

Putin said “ours will be a mirror response” in a tit-for-tat move that the Russian president ultimately blames on Washington’s years-long “systematic” undermining of the agreement.

Both sides are now blaming the other’s refusal to return to the table. On Tuesday US disarmament ambassador Robert Wood stated before a U.N.-sponsored Conference on Disarmament in Geneva that the United States would reconsider its withdrawal from the INF treaty “should Russia return to full and verifiable compliance.”

“This is Russia’s final opportunity to return to compliance,” Wood said; however, this clearly doesn’t appear much of a humble open-handed invitation urging Moscow to return in good faith.

It now appears both sides are hardening in their position, which doesn’t bode well for a potential future return of a Cold War style arms race. Indeed it appears to have already begun. (source, source)