US says to withdraw from INF missile treaty with Russia

The United States said Friday it was withdrawing from the landmark Cold War INF missile treaty with Russia, saying Moscow was in violation.

Effective Saturday, “the United States will suspend its obligations under the INF Treaty and begin the process of withdrawing from the INF Treaty, which will be completed in six months unless Russia comes back into compliance by destroying all of its violating missiles, launchers and associated equipment,” US President Donald Trump said in a statement.

Russia and the US have over the past months held discussions to rescue the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty (INF) but say efforts have led nowhere.

Before the US announcement, Russia’s top negotiator on the treaty, deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov, in an interview broadcast Friday insisted Moscow was in compliance.

“We believe that the treaty is needed. It serves the interests of our security and European security,” Ryabkov said.

“It would be extremely irresponsible to undermine it with unilateral steps.”

Ryabkov suggested that Washington was planning to unleash a new arms race that Russia would be unable to win.

“They are probably beginning a race to exhaust us economically,” he said.

On Thursday, Russian and US officials met to address the issue on the sidelines of a meeting of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council in Beijing but made no progress.

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg has said military commanders will begin preparing for “a world without an INF treaty” but insisted the alliance was still committed to arms reduction.

Tensions have raged for months over the fate of the INF agreement signed in 1987 by US president Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.