U.S. to withdraw from nuclear arms treaty with Russia

The United States will withdraw from the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces treaty (INF) because Russia is violating the terms of the agreement, U.S. President Donald Trump said.

“We’re going to terminate the agreement and we’re going to pull out. We’ll have to develop those weapons,” the Guardian cited president as saying.

At the same time, he did not rule out signing a new agreement on intermediate-range nuclear forces with Moscow and Beijing if Russia and China provide guarantees of halting the production of such weapons.

The Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces treaty banned ground-launch nuclear missiles with ranges from 500km to 5,500km. Signed by Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev, it led to nearly 2,700 short- and medium-range missiles being eliminated, and an end to a dangerous standoff between US Pershing and cruise missiles and Soviet SS-20 missiles in Europe.

On Friday, Trump’s third national security adviser, John Bolton, a longstanding opponent of arms control treaties, was pushing for US withdrawal. Bolton will visit Moscow next week.