The United States and Russia suspended their obligations under the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty on Feb. 2 after months of failed talks and years of attempts by Washington to bring Moscow into compliance with the landmark arms pact.
President Donald Trump announced his intent to withdraw from the treaty in October last year. Since then, Russia failed to comply with requests to destroy its 9M729 ballistic missiles, which the United States says violate the treaty.
“The United States has fully adhered to the INF Treaty for more than 30 years, but we will not remain constrained by its terms while Russia misrepresents its actions,” Trump said in a statement issued by the White House. “We cannot be the only country in the world unilaterally bound by this treaty, or any other.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin said his country will likewise suspend its obligations under the treaty and will start developing new missiles. Putin made the announcement on Feb. 2, the day that U.S. officials said Washington would serve Moscow and related parties with the official withdrawal notice.
U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev signed the INF treaty in 1978; the pact prohibited both nations from possessing both conventional and nuclear-capable short- and mid-range ground-launched missiles.
Putin’s comments came just hours after NATO Secretary Jens Stoltenberg told the broadcaster that all other European countries supported the United States.
“All [European] allies agree with the United States because Russia has violated the treaty for several years. They are deploying more and more of the new nuclear-capable missiles in Europe,” Stoltenberg said.
