Russia said on Tuesday that the U.S. test of a ground-launched cruise missile was regrettable and showed that Washington had long been preparing for the demise of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, TASS news agency reported.

The Pentagon said on Monday that it had tested a conventionally-configured cruise missile that hit its target after more than 500 km (310 miles) of flight, the first such test since the United States pulled out of the treaty.

Commenting on the test, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Russia would not be drawn into an arms race and that Moscow still did not intend to deploy missiles unless the United States did so first, the report said.

"All of this is regrettable. We are not provocative. As stated in France by Russian President Vladimir Putin, we reaffirm that we adhere to a unilateral moratorium on deploying medium-range ground-to-air missile systems until such systems are deployed from the US, anywhere in the world, "said the Russian deputy foreign minister.

On Monday, the Pentagon announced that it had successfully tested a conventional land-based rocket launcher with a range of more than 500 km. This is the first such test since the US withdrew from the Treaty on the Elimination of Medium and Small Range Missiles.

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