Russia President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Russia would produce missiles that were banned under a nuclear pact that ended last month, but Moscow would not deploy them unless the US did so first, Reuters reported.

His remarks came during an economic forum in Russia’s Far East.

Putin said Moscow had urged the US to de-escalate a spiraling arms race between the former Cold War foes, but that Washington had not responded.

“...Of course we will produce such missiles,” Putin said. “We are not happy about the fact that the head of the Pentagon said that the United States intends to deploy them in Japan and South Korea, this saddens us and is a cause for certain concern.”

Putin said that the topic of American missiles will be discussed with the authorities of Japan and South Korea.

Abe, in his turn, noted that the US did not offer Tokyo to deploy medium- and shorter-range missiles in Japan.