President Donald trump confirmed that the U.S. withdraws from missile agreement, which Washington and Moscow signed during the cold war. The Russian foreign Ministry said that will not leave this step unanswered.
The Treaty on the elimination of intermediate and short-range (Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty — INF) was signed by the heads of the USSR and the USA Michael Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan on 8 December 1987. The parties undertook to eliminate missiles with nuclear and conventional warheads and also not to produce and not to test it in the future.
However, almost 30 years later, the current US President accused Moscow of violating a longstanding agreement, which made meaningless the further implementation by States of their obligations.
«We have to build up weapons, said Donald trump after the referendum in Nevada. — We intend to terminate the agreement.»
The proponents of military buildup, the United States also argued that the INF Treaty ties the hands of the country in a strategic confrontation with China in the Pacific ocean where medium-range missiles could threaten American bases, allies, and navigation.
Next week, the trump adviser for national security John Bolton, a longtime opponent of the treaties on the control of weapons, insisted on the withdrawal of the US from them, should meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow. Likely to be discussed including the release of INF.
However, Russia has reacted to the statement by trump. Deputy Minister of foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Sergey Ryabkov stressed that if the United States will continue to withdraw from international treaties unilaterally, Moscow would take «retaliatory measures, including military-technical character.» The Russian official added that they do not wish to do so.
Recall that in 2018 Donald trump already announced the unilateral US withdrawal from the nuclear deal with Iran and resume sanctions on the country. A few days ago, the American leader has declared its intention to withdraw the U.S. from the universal postal Union (Universal Postal Union) to get the country to set their own tariffs for delivery of parcels from China, including orders from AliExpress.
