arizona raytheon
The Russian Ministry of Defense has published a photo of a factory in the United States of the Raytheon industrial corporation, where preparations for the production of missiles forbidden under the Intermediate Scope Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) were found.

Earlier, the ministry said that the US made a decision to abandon the treaty several years before accusing Russia of violating it. According to the Russian ministry, missile-making preparations forbidden by the treaty began in 2017, using the facilities of the Raytheon corporation in the city of Luzon, Arizona, to create medium- and short-range missiles.

In the last two years, the factory's territory increased 44%, from 55 to 79 thousand square meters. The number of employees has grown to almost 2,000, according to the ministry.

In addition, the ministry recalled that in November 2017, almost simultaneously with the expansion of factory facilities, the US Congress allocated the first US $58 million tranche to the Pentagon by openly mentioning that the resources would be intended for the "development of a medium-range ground missile".

"The character and timing of the work carried out undeniably shows that the US administration has made a decision to leave the INF Treaty several years before blaming Russia for violating the treaty," the ministry concluded.

In the satellite photo, released by the Ministry and dated December 3, 2018, the factory with a territory of 4,150×2,300 meters is shown. The plant includes three operational and one under construction complexes, a test platform, assembly lines and missile equipment, industrial laboratory facilities, 36 semi-underground warehouses, one substation as well as different auxiliary constructions.