"They are looking for someone to blame for this...ill-considered step," Putin told journalists in Moscow, adding that "no evidence of violations on our part has been provided."

It is "simplest" for the United States to say, 'Russia is to blame,'" Putin said. "This is not so. We are against the destruction of this treaty."

"What will be the response from our side? Very simple: We will also do this," he said, indicating that Russia will no longer abide by the treaty if the United States withdraws.

"Mr Pompeo's statement came a bit late," Vladimir Putin responded on Wednesday. "At first, the American side did announce its intent to withdraw from the INF Treaty, and then they started seeking justifications as to why they should do it."

Congress authorized funding research and development efforts to build new missile systems "before Washington announced withdrawal from the INF," Putin believes. "The decision had been made some time ago, but quietly - they thought we wouldn't notice it." However, developing new types of short-and intermediate-range missiles was an open secret as "it was set out in the Pentagon's budget."

"Next, they started to look for someone to blame," the Russian leader went on. "The easiest thing is [to tell] the Western public that 'Russia is guilty'."

"They weren't shy [about it], they calmly pulled out of it - by the way, without any reference to anything," the President recalled. He likened it to what is happening now, adding that Americans "are figuring out who to blame for this reckless move."

"As military professionals, you should understand that not the US territory, but the countries hosting US systems with intermediate-range and shorter-range missiles will become targets for Russia's retaliatory steps"

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"When [Avigdor] Lieberman, the previous defense minister, resigned, he handed Netanyahu a wonderful gift, which is the Ministry of Defense, and now Netanyahu is defense minister, as well as many other things," Peled told Radio Sputnik's Loud & Clear. "Being defense minister allows him to parade and portray himself as this military expert," he added.

"Yesterday, if you look at the Israeli papers, there was some mention of the corruption charges. Today, it's all southern Lebanon, it's all Hezbollah, it's all pictures of Netanyahu with his senior security staff, with the generals and so-forth. So this is a great PR and political gift that he got when Lieberman resigned, and now he's making use of it," Peled told Loud & Clear hosts John Kiriakou and Brian Becker. "And of course the police chief who recommended that Netanyahu be indicted was just fired."

Everything is calm and peaceful on the Lebanese side [of the border], the situation is under full control. The army units deployed in the area are fulfilling their tasks in coordination with the UN Interim Force in order to prevent any provocation and maintain stability in the southern region. The command pointed out that the army was ready for any emergency situations.

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