Moscow condemns ‘dangerous’ Trump arms treaty withdrawal
● US says Russia has been building prohibited nuclear weapons for years
Russia has branded Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from a Cold War-era nuclear weapons treaty a “very dangerous step”.
The 1987 Intermediaterange Nuclear Forces Treaty helps protect the security of the United States and its allies in Europe and the Far East by barring the US and Russia from possessing, producing or test-flying a ground-launched cruise missile with a range of 300 to 3,400 miles.
But at a rally in Nevada on Saturday, President Trump said he intended to “terminate” the three-decade-old agreement, arguing that Moscow had spent “years developing prohibited weapons”.
He told supporters at an event in the desert near the town of Elko: “Russia has violated the agreement. They have been violating it for many years.
“And we’re not going to let them violate a nuclear agreement and go out and do weapons and we’re not allowed to.”
He continued: “We’ll have to develop those weapons, unless Russia comes to us and China comes to us and they all come to us and say, ‘Let’s really get smart and let’s none of us develop those weapons’, but if Russia’s doing it and if China’s doing it, and we’re adhering to the agreement, that’s unacceptable.”
China is not a party to the pact.
Trump is sending his national security adviser John Bolton to Moscow to meet Russian leaders including Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev, and he was expected to relay the news about the decision.
Us-russia relations already are strained as a result of the Ukrainian crisis, the war in Syria and allegations of Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential race and forthcoming US mid-term elections.
Russia’s deputy foreign minister
ister Sergei Ryabkov told state news agency Tass the withdrawal “would be a very dangerous step”.
He added: “It will cause the most serious condemnation from all members of the international community who are committed to security and stability.”
Mr Trump did not give details about violations. But last year White House security officials said Russia had deployed a cruise missile in violation of the treaty.
Earlier, the Obama administration
accused the Russians of breaking the pact by developing and testing a prohibited cruise missile.
Russia has repeatedly denied that it has violated the treaty and has accused the US of not being in compliance.
US Defence Secretary James Mattis has previously suggested that a Trump administration proposal to add a sea-launched cruise missile to America’s nuclear arsenal could provide the US with leverage to try to persuade Russia to fall back in line on the arms treaty. Mr Ryabkov said Russia condemned US attempts to gain concessions “through a method of blackmail”.
The minister also told the news agency RIA Novosti that, if the US continues to behave “clumsily and crudely” and backs out of international agreements, “we will have no choice but to undertake retaliatory measures, including involving military technology.
“But we would not want to get to this stage,” he added.
US officials have previously alleged that Russia violated the treaty by deliberately deploying a land-based cruise missile in order to pose a threat to Nato.
Russia has claimed that American missile defences violate the pact.
Mr Trump said: “If they get smart and if others get smart and they say, Let’s not develop these horrible nuclear weapons’, I would be extremely happy with that, but as long as somebody’s violating the agreement, we’re not going to be the only ones to adhere to it.”