Russia pulls out of nuclear treaty in response to U.S. exit

MOSCOW — President Vladimir Putin of Russia suspended his country’s observance of a key nuclear arms control pact on Saturday in response to a similar move by the United States a day before.

Putin said Russia would build weapons previously banned under the treaty and would no longer initiate talks with the United States on any matters related to nuclear arms control.

The Trump administration withdrew from the treaty, a keystone of the late Cold War disarmament pacts known as the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, saying that Russia had been violating it for years.

In a televised meeting Saturday with his ministers of foreign affairs and defense, Putin said Russia would design and build weapons previously banned under the treaty — something the United States says Russia is already doing — but would not deploy them unless America did so first.

“I would like to draw your attention to the fact that we must not and will not let ourselves be drawn into an expensive arms race,” Putin told his ministers. Money to build the new missiles, he said, will come from the existing defense budget.

The treaty had prohibited the United States and Russia from testing or deploying land-based missiles able to fly in what are known as short or intermediate ranges: 300 to 3,400 miles. Both countries have sea- and airlaunched missiles that fly in these ranges.

Putin said Russia remained open to negotiation, and Moscow’s proposals to resolve disputes “remained on the table.” But he said neither the Ministry of Defense nor the Ministry of Foreign Affairs should initiate talks with the U.S.