Trump dumps nuclear treaty over Russian ‘violations’
DONALD TRUMP has announced the US will pull out of a major nuclear weapons agreement with Russia, claiming the Kremlin has violated the deal.
The US president has been known to be considering quitting the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty with Russia, which has been in place for three decades, for some time, but he confirmed the move yesterday.
Mr Trump did not provide details on how Moscow violated the Cold War-era agreement, but US officials have said Russia has developed ground-launched medium range missiles in breach of the terms of the agreement. The missiles would allow Russia to launch nuclear strikes at Nato countries at short notice.
However, according to US officials, the move is also partly to enable America to counter a Chinese arms build-up in the Pacific.
Yesterday Mr Trump said: “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.
“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,” he said.
Mr Trump’s announcement, following a campaign rally in Nevada, came as John Bolton, his national security adviser, was heading to Russia to meet with officials.
The 1987 treaty followed a landmark meeting between Ronald Reagan, the former president, and Mikhail Gorbachev, the then Russian leader. It was seen as a key step in ending the Cold War and some fear that withdrawing will lead to increased weapons development by China, Russia and the US.