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Retired Russian lieutenant-general Evgeny Buzhinskiy said several landmark nuclear disarmament treaties between Moscow and Washington are on the “verge of collapsing”.He said the administrations of successive US presidents have “ruined” the “whole construction of nuclear arms stability”, including Donald Trump, who has threatened to pull out of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty.Buzhinskiy, chairman of Moscow-based think tank PIR Center, believes US nuclear missile build-up will resume in Europe if Trump unilaterally withdraws from the INF treaty.In response the Russian president, Buzhinskiy said, will have no option but to deploy nuclear-tipped missiles to Cuba, whose ruling Communist Party retains close diplomatic ties with the Kremlin.Buzhinskiy, who served with the Russian army for 16 years, said tit-for-tat missile deployments could result in a second Cuban Missile Crisis in the “worst case scenario”.

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"It’s a way to war, I’m sure about that,” he told Daily Star Online. “For us, it will be an existential threat.“Of course, we will try to deploy this class of missiles in Cuban.“The US wouldn’t be happy, but I don’t think Russia would be happy if they deployed nuclear missiles along our border.”The Cuban Missile Crisis was a 13-day confrontation between the US and the Soviet Union that was deemed to be the closest the world ever came to a global nuclear conflict.

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The Crisis, also known as the October Crisis of 1962, came to a head when the US deployed ballistic missiles to Italy and Turkey and Russia responded in kind by sending them to Cuba.Both nations eventually agreed to dismantle their weapons after long and tense negotiations between then US President John F. Kennedy and former Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev.Buzhinskiy believes a similar crisis could ensue if US nuclear-tipped missiles are sent to European military bases in the event the INF treaty collapses.

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Relations between Havana and Washington thawed after former US president Barack Obama eased a trade and travel embargo on the Caribbean island.But relations have hit the rocks once more after his successor, Trump, announced new restrictions.

Cuban president Diaz-Canel earlier this year took aim at the US economic blockade of the country, terming it "the main obstacle to the development of the country".Putin convened a meeting of senior Russian defence officials on Monday to discuss the possible collapse of the INF treaty.Signalling his intent, Putin said Washington’s decision to withdraw from the agreement “cannot and will not be left unanswered”.He said Russia is not interested in an arms race with the US.

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Rather, Russia's response would involve the “balanced development” of the military – including the army, navy and air force – and the use of hypersonic weapons “capable of penetrating any missile defense”, he said.Buzhinskiy said Russia’s missile technology has advanced to such an extent, an nuclear arms race would not be necessary.He said: “We already have weapons.“If the United States wants to increase its nuclear stockpile, it’s up to them.“We remember the lessons of the 60s, it’s not necessary to destroy these weapons 10 times, only once.“I don’t think there will be a nuclear stockpile on the Russian side.”

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Meanwhile, Russia is thought to be reactivating a Soviet-era signals intelligence base in Cuba, according to Washington DC-based think tank The Jamestown Foundation.

Experts believe the re-opening of the base would "duplicate rather than significantly add to Russian abilities to monitor US activities in the Caribbean".

The think-tank warned: "If the Kremlin leader should decide to establish additional bases in Cuba, as some Russian commentators are now suggesting, that would be a different matter altogether – particularly if he succeeds in this goal."