MOSCOW, August 25 (RIA Novosti) - Russia could unilaterally withdraw from the Treaty on Intermediate and Shorter Range Missiles, a Defense Ministry official said Friday.

"If there is a pressing need, Russia will pull out of the ISRM Treaty unilaterally," the ministry representative said. "There have been such precedents, in particular, the U.S. withdrawal from the ABM Treaty."

The United States announced it was pulling out of the 1972 ABM Treaty, which covered nuclear weapons for 20 years, in June 2002.

The Russian representative said that in 20 or 30 years any country could have intermediate range missiles.

"Moscow considers this treaty to be a relic of the Cold War. When this document was signed, only Russia and the U.S. had such missiles," the official said.