WASHINGTON, March 8 (Reuters) - Russia has deployed a land-based cruise missile that violates the "spirit and intent" of an arms control treaty and it did so to pose a threat to NATO, Vice Chairman of the Joints Chiefs of Staff General Paul Selva said on Wednesday.

It was the first public confirmation of the deployment after reports said last month that Russia had secretly deployed the ground-launched SSC-8 cruise missile that Moscow has been developing and testing for several years, despite U.S. complaints that it violated sections of the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty.

"The system itself presents a risk to most of our facilities in Europe and we believe that the Russians have deliberately deployed it in order to pose a threat to NATO and to facilities within the NATO area of responsibility," Selva said during a House Armed Services Committee hearing.

(Reporting by Idrees Ali)