Russia’s defence minister Sergei Shoigu yesterday said the country must develop new types of missile systems in the next two years after Washington and Moscow ripped up a key arms control treaty.

The United States has repeatedly accused Russia of violating the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) agreement and on Friday President Donald Trump said Washington was starting the process of withdrawing from the treaty in six months.

In a tit-for-tat move on Saturday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow was also leaving the treaty and beginning work on new types of weapons that would breach the crucial Cold War-era agreement.

Many analysts say abandoning the 1987 treaty could effectively signal the start of a new arms race.

At a meeting with officials on Tuesday, Shoigu said Russia should develop two new missile systems in the next two years.

“During 2019-2020 we have to develop a land-based version of the seaborne Kalibr system equipped with a long-range cruise missile which showed good results in Syria,” Shoigu told defence officials.

“Over the same period we will also have to create a land-based missile system with a long-range hypersonic missile,” he said. The defence minister said the plans had been approved by Putin. The INF agreement forbids ground-launched, short- and intermediate-range missiles, but not those launched from the air or sea.Defence experts say converting seaborne and air-launched missile systems for ground use will be advantageous for Russia since producing such missiles will be cheaper and quicker.